The Colorless Diamond
by LowParryBRO
Summary: A diamond that was held captive by Peridot and Jasper escapes, crash lands on Earth and meets the crystal gems... How will she fit in with the current crew? tbh, I don't even know yet, but we'll see. R&R me please. Especially tips on how to do stuff with this website. ;)
1. Chapter 1

"GET BACK HERE YOU LITTLE-"

My shoes were making a silent PIT PAT noise as I breezed through the various hallways of the spaceship. Where am I? WHO am I? Why am I here being chased down by some giant brute? All questions that I had no answer to. I saw a sign that pointed to the left labeled "Escape pods" and quickly made a left turn. I needed to get off this pile of metal.

I ran down the long hallway until I reached a door that automatically opened. Probably due to my presence. The room housed escape pods as far as the eye could see. I took a second to admire the sight before remembering why I was even here in the first place.

"There you are you little twerp!"

I didn't even waste my time looking back. I knew that she was behind me, so looking back will only waste time. So instead I jumped into the nearest escape pod. Since I had no idea how the thing worked, I just began to hit buttons at random. Eventually, I'll hit the power button. Right?

VRRROOOOM!

Step 1 complete. Now to get out of here. I pushed in the steering controls which caused the ship to move forward…. right into another pod.

BAM!

The force of the impact slammed my face into the control panel. My head throbbed as I regained control of the vehicle before backing it up, turning it towards the blast doors and taking off. I didn't get far, however, because the blast doors obviously would not just open automatically. I began to tap buttons at random again, but before I could find the button that controlled the blast door

BANG!

She had caught up to me.

"You thought that you could escape me?! HA! You should be happy you got this far." The orange gem grabbed my escape pod and flung it all over the place, punched it, said rude thing to me, the works. All while I was mashing every one of the buttons possible.

The front facing glass started to crack due to the punishment that it was being put through. I was finished. I was going to be taken back into the ship to do who knows what. I was freaking out, until I saw a button on the control panel that said

"Open blast door." … _UGH_

I hit the button and, almost magically, the blast doors opened to reveal the dark expanses of space. Naturally, the opening of the blast doors created a vacuum like force that sucked everything that was not heavy towards it. And by everything that was not heavy, I mean the orange gem, who struggled to even keep her footing. I shrugged her off and took off, leaving behind the rust bucket for good (I hope). The blast doors closed behind me and I was on my merry way.

 **BACK ON THE SHIP:**

A green gem sprinted to the escape pods hoping to find the prisoner, but the only thing that she 'found' was the orange gem. And she was NOT happy.

"I thought that you made it so that the ship that she chose wouldn't work!" The orange gem was angry, no, furious.

"I thought that I did! By my calculations, she would've chose ship A-15 because it was the closest." Her eyes trailed off to see a ship with the markings A-15 sitting in the corner. It was in perfect condition. "Oh crud"

"Ah whatever! Just blow up her pod. Yellow Diamond wanted her dead or alive, if she doesn't have a chance to become our enemy we're all good." She smirked at her own comment, happy that losing the prisoner didn't equal a failed mission.

"Okay, okay" The green gem punched in some commands on her hologram control pad. "Annnnd done, she should be space dust any second now. Let's get back to the task at hand."

 **BACK TO THE ESCAPE POD:**

I was moving through the universe at speeds almost unheard of, Stars and planets zoomed by. I wished that I could admire their natural beauty, but I had some pursuers to get away from.

BOOM!

And I'm not doing a good job of it.

A large laser hit the backside of my pod and it destroyed both primary thrusters. My pod came to a screeching halt right in front of a large, blue planet. The planet's gravitational force pulled my ship towards the planet and since I had no way to stop it, this was probably the end of the line for me. But If I had to choose any of the few planets that I have visited to die on, it would have to be this one. From the atmosphere, I could see lush vegetation, bright lights, and this beautiful blue liquid that I don't know the name of. I call this going out in style.

 **ON EARTH:**

"Look! A shooting star!" Steven was cheerful as always, and seeing what looked like a shooting star only helped his mood.

"What's so special about a burning meteor?" Amethyst was lying down beside Steven admiring the beauty of the shining stars as well.

"You don't know?!" Steven sounded very shocked "If you make a wish on a shooting star it will come true. Give it a try."

"Well…." Amethyst put her hand up to her chin and looked up to think "I want a lifetime supply of Fryman French Fries!"

"Good one" Steven praised Amethyst for her…. Unique choice of wish "I wish that there was another gem here with us. I know that I have you guys, but another gem could mix things up a bit, you know?"

"I feel ya" Amethyst said as she laid back and rested her head on the cool sand.

Garnet ran out of the beach house and sprinted towards the 2.

"Hey G, ready to chill?" Amethyst took a sip out of an orange juice box that she had.

"AMETHYST, STEVEN, GET OUT OF THERE NOW! THAT IS NOT A SHOOTING STAR!" She was very serious, and since she was the leader of the Crystal Gems, Steven and Amethyst obeyed this order, albeit reluctantly.

"What's wrong Garnet? I don't see anythi-AAAH!" Steven looked up to see that this "Shooting Star" was actually a crash-landing ship. And it was headed right towards them.

Garnet grabbed the both of them, leapt on the roof of the beach house and watched as the ship crashed into the beach. Almost immediately afterwards, Garnet jumped down to the crashed pod and dropped Steven and Amethyst. The three of them carefully poked and prodded at the ship until Steven hit a button that opened the door to the cockpit. The cockpit was, for the most part, empty. But there was a large diamond in the pilot's seat.

"Steven! Stand back!" Garnet summoned her gauntlets and was prepared to smash the gem into a million pieces.

"Wait!" Steven yelled out of fear for this unknown gem's life. "Why are you doing this? We don't even know if she's bad or not!"

"I hoped that I would not be the one that had to tell this to you, but listen up." Steven sat down in front of Garnet, ready to hear more information about the gems.

"The diamonds are the ruling overlords of home world and its colonies. They are like…. Mayor Dewey is to Beach city. But their words and orders are final." Steven seemed REALLY into this, so she continued "That was one of the reasons why your mother chose to rebel, and the Crystal Gems were born"

"Awesome" the new information astonished Steven "But if this was really one of the diamonds that you were talking about, wouldn't she have come with an army, not by herself?"

"Hmmm." Garnet thought about this for a second, contemplating all of the potential good futures and the potential bad ones as well. "…Fine. But you will be in charge of keeping up with the gem until she regenerates." She smirked at Steven, knowing that he'll love the idea.

"Thanks Garnet, this means so much to me!" Steven ran into the beach house and laid the diamond on the floor before contemplating what to do to "Welcome" his new guest. He wrote a welcome letter for her and moved the gem to a chair that he moved to the front of his bed. He hoped that she would emerge that night, but she wouldn't do that until

 **1 WEEK LATER:**

I emerged from my gem a full 7-day night cycles later. Apparently, air bags are extremely powerful things. I looked around to get a sense of where I was now. I was in some type of dwelling, and there was some sort of message left for me. I picked it up and began to read.

 _Dear Unknown Gem, I would like to welcome you to the planet earth. I, the person who might be sleeping on the bed directly in front of you, am called Steven._

I looked to this "bed" and saw a small boy resting softly on it. I continued reading out of curiosity.

 _I am a member of a group of warriors called the Crystal Gems. We defend earth from all kinds of gem related threats. Our leader is Garnet, a cool and composed gem fusion that always keeps us together. We also have 2 other gems: Amethyst, a chill, fun loving goofball who loves eating everything, including garbage. And Pearl, who is the opposite of Amethyst. She is tall and lanky, loves order and cleanliness, and wields a mean spear. I hope that you can have fun here. Sincerely, Steven. P.S. If you need anything, give me a shout._

I looked at the letter intently for a long while, until the darkness began to turn into light. I looked at this "Steven" kid again on the bed. I expected to see him still resting on the bed but I saw 2 round orbs staring at me….

"AAAAAAH!" I fell out of the chair due to me being freaked out. A small boy walked up to me and offered me a hand.

"Hi. My name's Steven, you probably read the letter that I had left for you." I looked at the letter that he wrote. "What's your name?"

I tried to think or my name, but I couldn't. "I don't think I have a name" I said as I took his hand and got back up on my feet. I was taller than him, but not by much. His head went up to my shoulders.

"Oh, come on, everyone has a name, since your gem is a diamond-" Hearing him say the word Diamond brought back years of running and torture. Numerous flashbacks of pain and suffering filled my mind and consumed my soul from within.

"NO!" I was sweating now and my breaths were labored "I…. please don't use that word for a while" I must have tripped some sort of alarm, because a large double door at the other end of the dwelling opened and 3 people emerged from the door. 3 GEMS emerged from the door.

"Steven! Get away from her!" The large, red gem summoned large gauntlets as the 2 gems standing beside her, a pearl, and an amethyst, summoned a spear and a whip respectively.

"I can't be here." I said as I jumped off the higher platform and ran out of the door with the 3 gems got on my tail. I can't trust other gems anymore, not after all the pain that they put me through.

"Hey! WAIT!" Steven called for me, but I didn't look back. No way I was going to allow those gems to come near me.

I was running at full speed on this soft ground. And even though I was gaining ground I could've gained even more if I could get any real traction on this weird surface. Suddenly, all my momentum went away when I was wrapped up by a whip.

"I got her!" One of the three said as I was pulled backwards towards them. I spun around, grabbed the whip, and yanked back with all my force. The wielder of the whip, who was the Amethyst, fell forward and landed on her face. The Pearl lunged at me next with spear in tow. She thrusted her weapon repeatedly, but I dodged all her attacks with my superior speed. She backed up to regain her composure before charging at me. She leapt at me and swung her spear, but I juked to the left before giving her a swift punch to the gut. I spent 1 moment too many looking at her groaning form on the ground and that was all the red gem needed to blind side me with a punch that flattened me. I was knocked out.


	2. Chapter 2

**30 MINUTES LATER**

I woke up to the not so welcoming embrace of a throbbing headache. I tried to move my arms, but I couldn't move them. I was wrapped up in that Amethyst's whip. So, all that I could do is groan in pain.

"Garnet, do you really think that this is a good idea? She's a DIAMOND. I don't think that we should trust her."

"Don't worry Pearl, if she ends up being bad news, we'll have it under control."

"Shhhh, I think that she's waking up."

I opened my eyes to see the 3 gems from earlier and Steven conversing in front of me.

"Oh, hey." the tall, lanky pearl spoke up "My name is Pearl. This is Garnet" She pointed to her right to that tall gem that knocked me out.

"Yo." Garnet gave me a thumb up.

"And this is Amethyst" _Gee, what creative names._

"Sup" Amethyst smiled at me.

"And this is Steven, you've probably met him already." Steven waved at me "So, do you have a name?" Steven seemed discomforted by the question, probably because of what happened last time, so before he could step in and say anything

"Diamond! Just…call me Diamond." I gave myself the worst name possible.

"Okay Diamond, it was a pleasure to meet you. Garnet!" Pearl backed up and Garnet stepped forward.

"Diamond, follow me." After being released from the grasp of the whip, Garnet and I stepped onto a warp pad and were teleported to an empty room.

"What is this? This is just an empty room." I looked around to try to find something, ANYTHING. But the room was devoid of anything. It was an empty room in the shape of a cube.

"Diamond, I want you to summon your weapon. Then come at me." Garnet summoned her gauntlets and waited for me to summon my weapon. The thing was, I didn't know that we even had weapons.

"We have WEAPONS!?"

"Of course, just focus on retrieving it and you should receive it from your gem." Garnet smirked as she made her gauntlets appear and disappear seemingly at will. "Now, you try"

I closed my eyes and focused on getting my weapon. I couldn't wait to use it. This is going to be EPIC. I opened my eyes and in my hands a recurve bow appeared, along with a sheath of arrows that were strapped over my shoulder.

"Exotic." Garnet gave me a thumb up.

"Thanks" My celebration was short however, because Garnet suddenly charged at me. She swung at me, but I jumped out of the way before firing an arrow at her. She dodged my arrow before charging at me in midair. I tried to fire off another arrow, but I was hit by a Garnet punch that sent my flying into a wall before I could do so. My bow skidded on the floor behind Garnet.

"You should never let yourself be separated from your weapon in a fight." She charged at me, looking to deal the finishing blow… but I don't go down that easily. I moved my head out of the way at the last second and watched as her fist tripled the size of the crater that was left by my head. She followed that up with a kick that I rolled out of the way of before sprinting to my bow and picking it up mid stride before whipping around and firing a barrage of 3 arrows. She blocked the arrows with her gauntlets, but shortly after they EXPLODED. And I had nothing to do with it… Awesome.

Garnet's figure was enveloped with smoke. The silence that followed afterwards was deafening. I was beginning to think that maybe by some chance that I won. All that hope went away instantly when out of nowhere Garnet burst out of the smoke cloud. I tried to fire off another arrow, but Garnet was able to punch me before I had the chance. I flew into another wall and fell to my knees.

 _This isn't going to work. I need a closer ranged weapon for this._

"Trying to beat someone at their own game huh?" I honestly didn't know what she was talking about… until I looked at my hands.

"What are you talking abou-WOAH!" My bow and arrows disappeared and were replaced with 2 white gauntlets that were not as big as Garnets, but were still huge. I struggled to my feet and faced Garnet with determination in my eyes and a fire in my soul.

Garnet charged at me again and threw a hook that I ducked before giving her an uppercut that sent her a few feet in the air. As soon as she gracefully landed on the ground she charged at me again. This time she threw a straight right hand, but the result was the same. I was faster than her, so dodging her attacks was very easy. I sidestepped the attack before hitting her in the exact same spot with the exact same punch.

Once she landed from this punch however, she simply backed up and gestured for me to come at her. It was obviously a trap. She wanted me to come at her and fight aggressively because she knew that I could dodge every punch that she threw. There was no way that I was going to fall for that.

But I did.

"AAAAAA!" I screamed as I charged at her with all my energy going into one punch. But instead of dodging the obvious attack Garnet charged at me with a punch of her own. Our fists collided in midair with a force so great that it could destroy spaceships. The knockback of the punch sent me flying backwards and I tumbled and rolled on the ground until my back hit the wall. Smoke and dust obscured my vision, but when it cleared, I was in for a rude awakening.

Garnet was standing right in front of me, fist ready to deal the finishing blow. "Can you get up?" She looked pretty beat up, but she was still STANDING after that. Unbelievable.

"No, I can't." I tried to get up a couple of times, but I couldn't.

"Well, welcome to the Crystal Gems" She picked me up and carried me to the warp pad.

"But I lost. How does me losing equal being accepted by the 'Crystal Gems'?" My voice was quiet and low. I lost. I failed. How am I deserving of this?

"I have been fighting for thousands of years and you almost defeated me with no prior experience. I just needed to see if you could hold your own. This could've gone much worse, or you could've won… if you didn't charge at me. That was dumb."

I knew it.

But wait, did I even sign up to be a member of this team? _UGH!_

"Gee, thanks."

We were warped back to the dwelling, where everyone was worried about us.

"Oh my! What happened to you two?" Pearl looked at our damaged forms and nearly freaked out.

"Don't worry Pearl, everything's going to be okay." The statement didn't help comfort her at all. Garnet laid me down on a soft large chair in the middle of the room. "Gems! I would like to welcome Diamond to the Crystal Gems!" Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl cheered and started clapping.

The pain became unbearable, so I retreated to my gem to regenerate. I had regenerated fully within minutes, but I wanted some more time to rest. So, I stayed inside of my gem until

 **THE NEXT DAY:**

I stood up and looked around. The house was empty and silent. I stepped inside a weird room with some sort of reflective glass.

"So, this is… me?" I stared at myself for the first time ever. My skin was fair. I had messy, light brown hair that went down to my shoulders and dark brown eyes. I took a moment to remember how I looked before leaving the dwelling to try and find the others.

The first thing that I noticed when I left was a green spaceship that was shaped like a hand.

 _Wait, I know that spaceship!_

Fearing the worst, I ran as fast as I could towards it. My fears were quickly confirmed as Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were all on the ground and were in serious pain. And that Peridot and her grunt were responsible.

"Can't you 2 just LEAVE ME ALONE!?" I asked out of desperation and infuriation

"You're not dead?" the orange gem smirked "2 nuisances handled at once."

I was furious. _I'm sick of running. Running straight into dead ends. This makes no sense!_ I felt as if I was losing control of my body. I was letting my anger take over. "I" gestured towards the large mass of blue liquid for no good reason. I really couldn't think of why "I" would do that, especially since I had no special powers that I could think of. But suddenly, some of the liquid morphed into a large fist that threw itself towards the orange gem. She wasn't prepared for it, and was steamrolled by the punch. She struggled to get up in the seconds that followed.

"This is what I'm going to do to you." 'I' began to laugh as I sent another liquid punch her way "First, I'm going to destroy your physical form. Then, I'll SHATTER YOU!" 'I' summoned another fist to deal the finishing blow.

"Please… don't do it." My head whipped around to a struggling Steven pleading to me "Please don't… shatter Jasper"

Almost instantly I regained control of my body… and my liquid powers went away just as fast.

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" I was distracted for a few seconds and that was all Jasper needed to hit me with a headbutt that sent me flying. I was out of it before I hit the ground.

 _ **Author's Note: I post chapters based on whether or not I'm satisfied with the length. No schedule = No stress, but there might be some inconsistency. I'll try to squeeze em out as fast as possible ;)**_


	3. Chapter 3

_The year is 15 22 31 (15 years ago) and home world is involved in another civil war. This time on the planet Creo, a large planet with tons of natural resources. Rumors have been surfacing about the leader of the rebels being a Diamond. One without a color._

"Commander! Squad 3 is taking large casualties." My assistant, a Pearl named Sam, said. We were losing badly at this point. Squads 1 and 2 were pretty much gone at this point, squads 4 and 5 were pinned down, and we were heavily outnumbered. It was as if they were ready for our attack. They countered our every move, even the unorthodox ones.

"Call for a retreat." I summoned my bow and arrow to cover our remaining soldiers. After a short while, my army appeared and began to board our Airships. Most of them looked pretty beat up. Surprisingly, no home world soldiers showed up to try and mop up the rest of them.

After my soldiers boarded their respective ships and took off, I walked to my own ship that was hidden elsewhere. I walked up to the hidden space ship, but before I could open the doors to board it

"Put your hands up" I was caught, by someone who I knew, who I trusted.

"Sam, is that you?"

"I SAID, put your hands up!" I couldn't believe what was happening.

"I thought that I could trust you. YOU came to ME because you were sick of being treated like you were because you're a Pearl. Don't you want to be treated just like everyone else? Why throw away everything we've worked for?"

"…. Shut up." I felt something being jabbed into me that sent waves of electricity through me. I spasmed before falling limp on the ground.

 **LATER, I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH THIS TIME**

I woke up inside of some room. It was a grey cubic shaped room with a chair in the middle (that I was strapped to, of course). I was strapped to the chair for what seemed like days, and I inevitably began to hallucinate.

"Diamond. Diamond?" I heard something to my right. But when I turned my head to the right, nothing was there.

"Diamond, wake up." _But I am up. Or am I?_

"C'mon, we need to get out of here."

"WHO ARE YOU!?" I screamed to the walls, the floor, the chair, everything.

"Who, me? I'm-"

"AAAAAAAAAH!" I woke up inside of a spaceship's holding cell with Steven in front of me.

"Diamond. Come on! We have to get out of here" Steven spoke with an urgency that I didn't think was possible.

"Okay, but how are we going to get out of here?" I couldn't wait to see what kind of epic plan that he brewed up to get out of this tough spot.

"Like this" He put his arm into the force field and it created an opening big enough for me to crawl through. _Or, we can do that_. "CCCCCOOOME OOOOONNN." the field seemed to affect him a little, but not much.

"Okay, okay." I got on my hands and knees before crawling through the opening. Once I finished, Steven stepped through the force field easily.

"Ta da!" Steven smiled at me. "C'mon, let's go." I turned back at the force field and tried to touch it. An electric shock greeted me.

We began running down a long hallway that was lined with holding cells looking for the rest of the crew. We found a lone ruby sitting down in one of the cells. I paid her no mind, but Steven stopped

"Um… hello? Are you okay?" Steven stared into the cell at the Ruby, whom I couldn't see from where I was standing.

The ground suddenly began to shake, probably due to whatever that ruby just did inside of her cell. I almost lost my footing, but I stayed upright. Steven wasn't as lucky. "Great! This is just perfect!"

"Um, do you need any help?" I began to walk back to him to urge him along.

"NO! I mean… DON'T LOOK AT ME! Just… go away."

"C'mon Steven, we've got to get moving to save our friends." I took his hand and began to walk away from the cell.

"WAIT!" We turned back to see the ruby looking at us with astonishment "You two are out, how did you get past the field?"

"Oh, I kinda just-"

"Wait! Nononononono wait!" Steven stuck his hand through the forcefield again.

"It's okay?" The Ruby began to reach out to the field to try and do the same.

"WAIT! It won't work, I've tried." I stopped her just in time.

Someone inside of the ship began to sing in a heavenly tone.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! PLEASE! I NEED TO FIND SAPPHIRE!" The Ruby must be on a mission to protect her or something. Since normally, Sapphires and Rubies aren't seen together unless it's for muscle.

"Is she your friend? I'm looking for my friends too."

"SHE'S ALL ALONE I NEED TO FIND HER" _Talk about dedication._

"Don't worry, we'll find our friends." Steven opened a hole in the field and the Ruby crawled through easily. "AAAAAnd we'll do it TOGETHERRRRR."

The millisecond she was free, the Ruby took off at an amazing speed. I could keep up with her effortlessly, but Steven may have some trouble. So, to save ourselves from any potential headaches, "Need a lift?" I gave him a ride on my back.

We chased her down a hallway until we caught up to her. She was trying to sense the Sapphire's presence.

"Hey! My names Steven by the way. And this is-"

"Quiet," the Ruby struggled for a bit "I can't see" She looked left and then right before deciding to go left "This way."

"How many more gems are trapped here?" Steven asked a question that I wanted answered too, but he was asking the wrong gem.

"Don't know, don't care" We ran into a dead end when that Sapphire stopped singing and the Ruby's tracking skills failed us.

A blue gem sat inside the cell with her back turned away. "Sapphire!" The ruby got her hopes up, "Oh, it's just you" Before having them crushed.

"Lapis!" The blue gem turned around in surprise. _So, these two know each other?_ "Lapis, I can get you out." I dropped Steven to let him work his magic on the field.

"NO! I don't want your help! Things are already bad enough as is. Once we get back to home world, they'll figure out what to do with us." At this point, ANYTHING beats home world for me. _I'm not going to home world._

"UGH! I don't have time for this!" The ruby took off down the hallway. I took Steven's hand and began to give chase.

"Wait, whatever you're doing just stop. If we do everything they say they might go easy on us." I couldn't believe what she was saying.

"But they're… mean! They hurt my friends. They hurt my face! They've got you here in prison!"

"That's why we can't fight them." I was infuriated, I had to step in.

"I don't know what they'd to do to you, but there is no going back for me now. It's all or nothing, and you can join the cause, or get out of the way." My voice was low and stern. I forcefully picked Steven up and gave chase.

"Diamond, no!" I heard Lapis gasp at my name, but I paid her no mind. I didn't follow Steven's command either.

By the time we were able to take off after the Ruby, it was too late. I had already lost track of her, so I began to run towards the source of the singing. Suddenly, I sensed 2 gems. _A Peridot and a… OH CRAP._

I suddenly stopped and dropped Steven.

"WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?!" I angered him a bit by running away from Lapis, but there was no time to dwell on that.

"SHH!" I put my finger up to my mouth for emphasis.

"We can't leave yet! The whole point of coming here was to check on the cluster." _What is this 'cluster'?_

BANG! The ground shook a little bit as well.

"STOP SINGING!" It was Jasper, so the other person must be that Peridot from earlier. "Rose Quartz and that Diamond takes priority. Get back to the bridge and set a course for home world."

"It will be easy, they said." With both Jasper and the Peridot out of the way for now, we can focus on our goal again.

We peered out from our hiding place, and we saw a Sapphire standing in a cell in front of us. And to confirm my hunch, she began to sing again.

Steven walked up to her and began to whisper to her. I was on the lookout for Jasper or the Peridot, so I couldn't hear what they were saying.

"COOOOME OOOON. IIIIT'S SAAAAFFE." I turned around to see Steven letting the Sapphire out. _Step 1: complete. Now to get the Ruby and co._

"SAPPHIRE!" The Ruby yelled across the ship like the numbskull that they (Rubies) are.

"Come on." The Sapphire grabbed Steven and took off towards the source of the sound at an amazing speed.

"Gee, thanks for the heads up." I said as I took off after them. The Sapphire was kind of fast, fast enough to make me have to waste some of my energy to try and catch up to her. Since it was a waste, I decided to simply coast a bit behind her.

I caught up to them just in time to see the Sapphire and Ruby fuse to make… GARNET!?

"Steven! And Diamond. Thank you." …... _What did I just witness?_

"GARNET! You're a fusion?!"

"EH!?"

"I'm sorry, we didn't want you meeting us here like this." It was good to have Garnet back. _Now we can take this ship back._

"Did I make a good first impression?" I nearly facepalmed at this question.

"Oh, Steven, you already know me."

"WHERE IS HE?!" _Crap._ Jasper must have found out about our escape, time to get down and dirty.

"It's Jasper! Steven, Diamond, find the others and get to the control room!" Garnet gave us orders, but I wanted to streamline our plan a bit.

"I'll go to the control room! You free the rest of the crew." I took off towards the ship's control room at full speed. Not giving them a chance to vote against it.

I was at the control room in an instant. The door automatically slid open, and on the other side of the room I saw the Peridot inputting a code into the ship. "Hi, remember me?" The Peridot stared at me with fear in her eyes and pulled out a tool of some sort. I smirked before dashing at her as fast as possible. She tried jabbing me with her weapon, but I was too fast. I ducked her attack and kicked her weapon out of her hand before knocking her senseless with a roundhouse kick that was so fast that I couldn't see it. Her body laid motionless on the other side of the room.

I quickly took control of the ship before flying it towards the Earth. Within moments the rest of the Crystal Gems, all but Garnet, joined me inside of the room. The ship was descending smoothly towards Earth, until-

BANG!

The ship's central power cell was destroyed.

I turned back to see the Peridot teleporting away before an escape pod was shot out of the ship. _Cheeky Clod._

 _I can do this, I can do this._ I couldn't do this. Without the central power cell, the ship was basically worthless. We we're seconds from crash landing. I looked back to see Steven summon a bubble shield of some sort,

but I was right outside of its range. _WHY ME!?_

BANG!

 _ **AN: uploads have been slowing down as of late because my school got out for Pres' day AND there was a teacher in service day. Idk if things will speed up but, we'll see. WaifuHuntress out!**_


	4. Chapter 4 )

**I GIVE UP**

"Diamond! Diamond where are you?!"

"Diamond! If you hear us say something!"

 _Guys, I'm right here!_ I survived the crash landing purely off of luck, but I was covered in rubble and couldn't move.

"She's right here" The weight on my body gradually lessened until I could finally move. I crawled out from the bottom of the rubble to a worried Steven, Amethyst, and Pearl. I turned around to the sight of Garnet dropping the massive pile of rubble that should have ended me.

"You missed everything! Lapis and Jasper fused to form Malachite, and just when it seemed like all was lost, Lapis trapped them both in the ocean! Now we need to find them though." Steven smiled at me like he became the universe's richest man.

I simply smiled and said, "And that we will do"

"You two go and get some rest, we have work to do."

Steven and I followed Garnet's orders and walked back to the house. My breaths became more labored and I gained a slight limp as we neared the home. And Steven seemed to notice this.

"Uh, do you want to stop?" He looked at me compassionately, and he clearly didn't want me to hurt myself.

"NO!" I almost yelled, I immediately regretted it however, "I… uh… don't need any rest." _I'm not weak, I don't need help._

Neither of us made a noise until we made it to the Beach house. Steven sat down on his bed while I rested on a large chair in the main area.

I closed my eyes for what seemed to be an eternity to recollect my thoughts and try to make sense out of everything. When I opened my eyes, I saw two round orbs staring right at me from just centimeters away. I had a mini freak-out moment.

"PLEASE, don't do that again." Steven snickered at my comment.

"Sorry. Diamond, I think that it's time to give you a tour of beach city." Steven smiled again. _Why is he always so… happy?_

"Sure, I'm in." I gave him a thumb up.

"But, you'll need some new clothes, your current outfit looks kinda weird." I looked down at my clothes, which were simple combat gear from Creo: A White combat vest with a black T-shirt underneath, white pants, and black combat boots.

"What do you mean? I don't think that this is weird."

"Well, you look like you're from the army. You don't wanna stick out, do you?"

He had a point. "Okay." I made my clothes disappear leaving only my underwear "What do people wear on this planet?" Steven's face turned a deep red, and it took a second for me to realize why that was happening. I turned away out of embarrassment. "C'mon, I'm waiting."

"Just… look at what I've got on. I peeked at Steven's clothes for a moment before giving myself clothes that were identical to his.

"Like this?" I chuckled a bit as I looked at what I was wearing.

"I suppose that will be ok. Change your shirt's color and give yourself tennis shoes. Like this." Steven showed me a pair of tennis shoes in a magazine ad that were being sold for $200.

"All right, how's this." At the snap of a finger, I changed the color of the shirt to black with the same yellow star, and I gave myself a black and yellow pair of the shoes Steven showed me.

"Perfect. We depart early in the morning, be ready."

"I'll try."

 **EARLY IN THE MORNING**

We both forgot about the 'work' that we had to do in the morning, which consisted of cleaning up the debris that was left behind by that massive spaceship. The backbreaking work took a few hours, but we were finished by noon. We were finally able to walk around Beach City.

"This is the Big Donut. Part of the reason why I wanted to go early is for the fresh donuts early in the morning." Steven talked about this place like it was gem heaven, but it was just a purple building.

"Uh, what's a donut?" Steven gasped as I asked him the question.

"You'll see, c'mon!" Steven grabbed my hand and led me through the doors of the building.

"Welcome to the Big Donut." A blonde-haired girl was sorting stuff out in a weird closet of some sort. When she turned to face us, a smile spread across her face "Oh, hey Steven!" She then turned to me "You never told me that you had a sister."

Embarrassed, I turned away from her, Steven had to cover for me.

"Hi Sadie! This is Diamond, she's kinda shy." Steven tried to whisper the 2nd part of that sentence, but I heard him.

"I heard that." The embarrassment was somewhat replaced with irritation, but not entirely.

"Let me guess… you two want donuts?"

"Yes. I want a chocolate one with sprinkles. What about you Diamond?"

"Just… get me anything." I wanted to get out of here ASAP. But Steven didn't feel the same way.

"Well, make it TWO chocolate donuts with sprinkles." I turned around to see Sadie looking around for the donuts that we ordered.

"So Diamond, how long are you going to be staying in Beach City with Steven?" Sadie looked at me for a moment, before going back to searching "It's always nice to see a new face every once in a while"

"I don't plan on leaving anytime soon"

"Oh, that's good. Here are your donuts" She handed Steven 2 small bags and he gave me one of them. Inside of my bag was a brown, round… thing with small specks on it. _This must be a donut_. I looked at Steven as he took a large bite out of it. I stared at mine for a couple of seconds before taking a tiny bite out of mine. My tongue felt a weird sensation that I've never felt before, but it felt good.

"Speaking of new faces, where is Lars? I really want Diamond to meet him." When Steven said this, Sadie's facial expression went from happy to infuriated.

"Ugh, Lars is off skipping work again. I HATE picking up for him!" She hit her fist against the desk with such force that it caused me to jump a little.

"Oh well. Bye Sadie!"

"Bye Steven."

Steven walked out of the Big Donut and I followed him. We began walking down the boardwalk.

"You've barely eaten your donut." Steven looked at my donut with concern "You don't like it?"

"No, it's fine. I've just never done this before" I said as I took another miniscule bite of my donut. My eyes caught something majestic, it looked like another realm, where imagination thrives, and dreams come true. "What's that!?" I nearly screamed.

"Oh, that? That's an arcade. You want to go inside?"

"Yes! Come on!" I grabbed Steven's hand and sprinted inside at full speed. Weird machines lined the walls of the building. It was mesmerizing.

"How about we try Time Crisis 3?" Steven led me to one of the machines "Wait here while I get some tokens"

While he walked away to get the tokens, I fiddled with one of the...things that were attached to the machine. I held the blue one in my hands apprehensively. I pulled the trigger, which made the thing vibrate and the machine started playing a different cut scene. I jumped a little, but not much.

"Okay, I'm back." Steven put some type of coin in the machine and some menu popped up on the screen. It displayed 2 options: Single player or 2 player mode. Steven picked up the red thingy and pulled the trigger with the tip of it pointing at the screen.

"2 PLAYER MODE CHOSEN!" The machine…said? _Oh, that's how it works._ While the game loaded up, it gave out basic tips, like pumping the trigger on the floor (which I hadn't noticed until then) to go out of cover. Suddenly, the game started, and I quickly put my donut on a nearby table before starting to play.

"So, how this game works is, you get a certain amount of time to eliminate all of the enemies before it's game over. Everything else you needed to know was in that last little cut scene." Steven began to pull the trigger of his thingy and stuff on the screen looked like they were dying, so I followed suit.

The first thing that I noticed was how good I was at the game.

Every time I pulled the trigger, I hit an enemy in the head (Which seemed to kill them faster) and I would go into cover every time it looked like I was going to take damage. Steven, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. It seemed as though every minute he died and had to put another token in the machine…which is what he's doing now.

"When I took Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl here, they weren't this exited…or this good. Well, for the most part. How old are you? In years, of course."

"How long is this 'year'?" I said while concentrating on carrying us past the 'final boss'

"365 days, and a day is 24 hours."

"Hmm" I went into cover to do a little number crunching "About…17 years."

Steven gasped out of shock "Wow! You're young for a gem." Hearing that quote made me a little angry for some reason. I took it out on the boss, hitting him with a barrage of critical hits that finished him.

"Yes!" we said in unison as we high fived each other.

"NEW HIGH SCORE!" The machine said as a weird screen with letters popped up.

"Awesome! Diamond, put your initials into the game." I followed his request by shooting in the letter D, but I paused for a bit after that. _What should I put as my second initial?_ I decided on U simply because Sadie said that we look related. And that's what he put into the machine. After we put in the initials, the game scrolled through the top 10 players in terms of total score… and we were number one. I squealed out of excitement.

"Okay Diamond, it's getting late, let's get back before everyone starts to worry." I nearly cried as we left the arcade.

We began walking down the boardwalk while the sun was setting. The view was beautiful.

"STEVEN! I've been looking for you all day!" A dark-skinned girl began running towards Steven, and he took off towards the girl.

"CONNIE!"

I began to walk after Steven… until a green blur caught my eye. _That Peridot._ I turned left to face a vacant alley before walking down it. My eyes searched every little thing. From dumpsters to boxes, but my search ended up fruitless. _Must be hallucinating._ I turned to walk away when my left foot hit a panel of some sort and it glowed white. I stood there and looked at it for a few seconds. Suddenly, a large hole formed in the ground, and I fell through it.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

Eventually, I fell into a chair, and electric hand cuffs were snapped over my wrists and ankles. I was in an empty room with a large glass window facing me. The Peridot finally came into view.

"You!" I tried to get out, but I only received an electric shock for my efforts.

"Normally, I wouldn't call on a clod like YOU for help," Peridot sighed "But I need you to help me get off of this planet."

"Continue."

"There is a home world base located in the Rocky Mountains of…'Colorado'. Only Diamonds have the clearance to get to the base because it was abandoned for years. There are probably still some working ships there. Help me get there and I'll let you go. What do you say?"

"…I won't do it." The Peridot groaned out of frustration.

"Why? You'll lose nothing."

"Either A: You're lying and you'll capture me and take me to Yellow Diamond. Or B: You're telling the truth, but something bad is going to happen when you leave."

"UGH, why do you have to be so DIFFICULT!?" She stormed out of the room for a few seconds and came back with a tool of some sort.

"W-What's that?" I stared at the instrument fearfully. I know how it feels to be tortured, and it isn't good.

"This is an old collar from one of the gem wars" A pathway opened between the two rooms and the Peridot walked through it "The Home World army used them on captured soldiers to keep them in line." I squirmed in my chair as she strapped the collar around my neck and with a SNAP it latched shut. "The technology is a little crude, and since the use of these was banned, I don't have much experience with these. But someone with MY intellect will make it work" After a few seconds, the handcuffs disappeared, and I stood up. "Now to see if this thing works." She snickered a little. "Call me Master."

"Haha, real fun-AAAH!" I was hit with an electric shock unlike any other that I've ever dealt with. It made me fall to my hands and knees.

"Hmm, it works." She walked out of the chamber "Follow me." I really had no choice, so I followed her into a control room of sorts, with many buttons and switches. She opened a door that led to a long corridors with many doors. We walked straight however, right into a room with at least 50 warp panels. She stepped on one, and I followed suit. We were both teleported to the entrance of an old base.

"Go on, Work your magic."

"… I…I can't do it." Another shock (which was much stronger than the 1st one) made me lose my balance. I tore at the collar, but that only made things worse.

The Peridot stared at me with repent "Just open the door. That's all I want."

I said nothing as the electricity intensified, bringing me to tears. Everything hurt. _Stop! I just want it to stop!_

"PERIDOT!" _I know that voice._ I turned to see the crystal gems charging at the Peridot.

"Aw, DARN IT!" the Peridot flew away cursing this planet, herself, everything, but they didn't seem to care about that.

"Diamond, are you okay?" Steven said as he tried to remove the collar, causing me to nearly pass out due to the electric collar turning things up again.

"AAAH!"

"Steven, stand back." Garnet stepped up to give it a go. She grabbed my collar and then summoned her gauntlet, causing the collar to stretch. I shook as she yanked the collar off with a SNAP. _Finally, it's over._

"Diamond, I was so worried." Steven hugged me emphatically.

"I was too" I returned the favor.

'I was too'. The last words that I spoke for weeks after that fiasco. I kept to myself, away from the Crystal Gems. My mornings and afternoons were spent on the beach, watching the waves roll from the beach. At night, I'd sneak into the beach house and play video games until sunrise. I found some sort of sound player on the beach one of those days. The sounds intrigued me. One morning I was again watching the waves, listening to one sound in particular that I loved, when Garnet appeared out of nowhere.

"You people have a thing for sneaking up on me" I was more annoyed than anything. I took off the ear coverings that I found with the sound player to hear what she has to say.

She was chuckling "I guess so."

"So, why are you here?" I looked off at the water and watched as the waves rolled majestically.

She got serious "Are you a member of the Crystal Gems or not?"

"What do you mean? OF COURSE,. Why would you think otherwise?"

"After we made it back to Steven's home, you just disappeared. Everyone else thinks that you've left us. I, of course, knew that you were here the whole time. Which is why I came here. I just want to know that you haven't left us for good or anything." She looked at me with concern.

"No. I would never do that." I looked at the ground "But, I don't know if I'll be very useful to the team. I mean, I was outsmarted by a Peridot!"

"Nonsense, you'd be a very welcome addition." She smiled at me "How many times do I have to remind you that you almost defeated me? You're very strong, and you haven't even reached your full potential. Not even close." She waited for a response from me, but when I gave her nothing, she continued "We're about to go on another mission, you know where to find us." And then she walked off.

Obviously, the only course of action is to go back to the beach house. And so, I did just that. When I walked into the house, everyone except Garnet looked at me with shock all over their faces. I also noticed a green escape pod in the middle of the room

"Right on time." Garnet simply smirked as everyone else surrounded me.

"Diamond, Where were you? We've been looking all over for you." Steven hugged me again.

"Yeah D" Amethyst said in her 'lingo' "Where've ya' been?"

I began laughing. There's NO way that they didn't find me. I was literally 5 minutes away from the beach house. "I was so close to here that I could see the place from where I was. I literally came here and played Steven's video games at night every day."

"Crystal Gems! We have a Peridot to catch." Garnet stood on the warp panel waiting for us.

"How do we even know where she is?" I said as we began walking towards the warp panel.

"I was able to use her escape pod to track every warp she makes." Pearl smiled proudly at me.

"That's awesome, I didn't even know that that was possible" I looked back at the Escape pod before we were warped to the Peridot's location.

"Why, thank you"

When we arrived, the Peridot looked at us confused as to how we even found her.

"A Ha! Look! I was right! My plan worked perfectly." Pearl grinned. _I hope she realizes that we have to CATCH the Peridot before we can celebrate._

"Good morning." Steven waved at the Peridot.

The Peridot got into a defensive stance "What? How did you know I was here?"

"We've found a SECRET way to track you, and we'll never tell you how. Even if you ask nicely." I facepalmed at Steven's statement. I wanted to say _Yeah, let's GIVE her the key to countering this,_ but it just came out as

"SHHHH"

"PERIDOT, we're here to-"

"And you'll never get away with this!" Pearl literally cut off Garnet mid-sentence.

"Don't you gems have anything better to do than annoy me!?" The Peridot was frustrated, it was a sight to behold

"To be completely honest, n-"

"Prepare to be annoyed!" Now Pearl is cutting me off mid-sentence. It's not funny anymore.

"UGH, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! This planet has an expiration date and I'm not gonna stick around to find out when!" The Peridot shot a ball of energy at us. Luckily, we were able to dodge at the last second and it destroyed a pillar that was behind us. The debris nearly fell on us, but I rolled out of the way. I was made a fool of when Steven summoned a shield that covered everyone else.

"That's it, I'm taking her out." Pearl charged at the Peridot with no strategy what so ever.

"Wait!" I yelled at Pearl "She can-" Pearl was grabbed by a beam of some sort "- do that."

"Sorry, but you're going the WRONG WAY!" The Peridot flung Pearl at the rest of the gems, where she collided with Steven and Amethyst. Garnet caught the large stone that Steven was shielding them from.

"Get her!" Garnet commanded, and Amethyst rolled up into a ball and charged at her. She missed, and hit a pile of rubble.

"Ha ha! You missed!"

I charged at her without a weapon in tow. She quickly got back in her feet to prepare for my attack. I threw a straight right hand, which she dodged. I followed that up with 2 more punches, which she dodged. _Grrr._ Frustrated, I threw a flurry of at least 100 punches in a couple seconds … NONE of which hit her. Defeated, I simply put my fist in her face.

"What's this, giving up?" the Peridot taunted me.

I flicked her in the forehead with my middle finger. She took a couple of steps back, holding her head where I hit her.

"What was that for?!"

"Being hard to hit." I crossed my arms and turned away from her.

Suddenly, that same piece of debris crashed into the platform where we were standing. We were both flung off.

I landed on my back to see Pearl and Garnet collide, and the Peridot started flying away. _I can save this._ I summoned my bow and shot an arrow at the escaping Peridot. Since I haven't used my how in weeks, I missed by a few feet. _Crud._

The Peridot landed on a working warp panel "This is getting sad. I almost feel sorry for you." I fumbled to get another arrow ready, but by the time I was ready to fire she had warped away.

"Have a great weekend!" I chuckled at Steven's comment, but the others weren't that amused "I mean, I hope that you're weekend is not so great?"

 **LATER**

"I know that that was a bit of a fiasco, but there's a silver lining to this." Pearl walked to the Escape pod "Now we know that we can track her every movement. It's only a matter of time before we catch her, and when we do, we'll be able to close this chapter and finally move on. Right?" Pearl looked at Garnet, but she said nothing _something's up._

"UGH, isn't there something that you two should talk about?" Amethyst said out of frustration

Suddenly, the Escape pod began to glow. "It's Peridot" Pearl put her hand into the Escape pod which made her gem display a map of the planet with a target on it. "This is where she is. We've got her this time." She began walking back to the warp pad "If she thinks that she has the upper hand, then she's got something coming to her. And that's us." Garnet looked at her angrily, and followed her.

 _This doesn't make sense. She KNOWS that we can track her thanks to Steven and recent events. Surely she wouldn't do something this…obvious. It's a trap!_

"Diamond, you coming?" Steven asked, shaking me out of my deep thought. I looked up to see everyone on the warp panel, waiting on me.

"Oh! Yes." I stepped onto the warp panel.

"What were you thinking about?" Amethyst asked me as we were warped to an abandoned spaceship.

"N-Nothing! Nothing of any value."

"Ha, she must be getting desperate. We have her right where we want her." Pearl said matter of facly. _Definitely a trap._

As we walked inside of the ship, my mind was racing _C'mon Diamond, tell them that it's a trap! I don't know. Pearl may be right._ I collided with Steven mid thought. "M-My bad."

Suddenly a large projection of the Peridot appeared out of an old gem "Hahahahaha, you gems really are as full as dirt."

"You're the dull one of you think you can fly this wreck!" Pearl pointed at her. She had a point, this place was a wreck.

"What? Can you speak louder? Some of these communicators are gunked up."

Steven grabbed one of the sound communicators "Pearl says: YOU'RE the dull one of you think you can fly this wreck!" _Pretty good impression._

The Peridot laughed "Fly? I'm not using this vessel to fly. I'm using it to trap you!" Suddenly, the door shut behind us. _I KNEW IT!_ "Isn't this nice? No more Crystal Gems flying around, messing with my plans, destroying my things. Looks like I've got you right where I want you. How does it feel to be this easily outsmarted you CLODS?!"

I was angry. Not like any ordinary mad, I was heated. I ran off into another room where a hologram of Peridot was waiting for me.

"Oh yeah, and when this is all said and done, I'm taking you to Yellow Diamond!" The Peridot grinned.

"I'd rather rot away in here!" I said as I slammed my fist into one of the ship's walls.

The rest of the Crystal Gems caught up to me. Pearl, without thinking, attacked the hologram.

The Peridot chuckled "You idiot" I snickered a little bit myself.

Garnet walked up to Pearl "Pearl! Stop! That isn't helping"

"I have to do something. I can't believe that I walked us right into Peridot's trap. THIS IS ALL MY-" the ground started to shake "-fault?" We fell down a hole that led to…I really didn't know. I summoned 2 ice aces and drove them into a wall to stop my fall. Amethyst grabbed Steven and something else with her 2 whips to stop their fall.

"Garnet! Pearl! Are you okay!?" Steven asked as he was hanging down.

"We're fine!" Garnet said…right before something was closed on them preventing their escape.

 _GREAT! JUST FLIPPING FANTASTIC!_ I landed on top of the trap door before pacing angrily _WE WOULDN'T BE HERE IF I HAD JUST WARNED EVERYONE. I'M THE REASON WHY WE'RE HERE._ Then, gears in the room started turning, and Garnet and Pearl began to get crushed. _I'M SUCH AN IDIOT. NOW THEY'RE GONNA GET SHATTERED. CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD CLOD!_

Amethyst used her whips to keep the gears from turning. But it only worked for a short amount of time before they broke. "Diamond, some help would be nice."

"YOU WANT HELP?! I'LL SHOW YOU HELP!" I put all of my energy behind one punch that destroyed the trap door, but what I saw inside of it made me wish that I didn't do that. "WHAT'S THAT!?" A massive, red gem stepped out of the hole, then unfused to form Garnet and Pearl. They all stared at me with wide eyes. "What?"

We got out of the hole and ran to the main control room, Where the Peridot was probably located. We destroyed the door that led to the control room.

"Surrender Peridot! You have nowhere to run!" As cool as Garnet sounded as she said this, I knew that that wasn't happening.

"The Crystal Gems are gonna get you." Steven said. _People really love getting their hopes up on this planet._

The Peridot laughed again "You think that this is the end? This is only the beginning…of my ESCAPE!" She shot a hole out of the ship and began to fly away "Well I'd love to stick around to watch another one of your pathetic attempts to capture me, but I'm too smart for the likes of you lumpy clumpy CLODS."

Steven thought surprisingly fast and grabbed her left foot "I caught a Peridot!"

"Hey! Get your touch-stops off me! You Steven." The Peridot shook her foot, but Steven wouldn't budge. In fact, he but her afterwards "HEY!"

Amethyst grabbed onto Steven "Yeah Steven!"

And Pearl grabbed onto Amethyst "Don't let her go!"

Finally, Garnet grabbed Pearl's ankle and looked at me "Diamond, use your bow!"

I summoned my bow, drew a stun arrow, and prepared to take the shot. Milliseconds before I fired, the Peridot disconnected her left foot's attachment. And, of course, I MISSED. _AAAAAAA! NO!_

"UGH, you'll pay for this Crystal Gems! I'll get you back. Just you wait!" The Peridot flew off.

I stood there for a few seconds looking at the now miniscule speck that flew across the horizon. All that I could do was turn around and go back with my head down. But before I could do that, someone put their hand in my shoulder.

It was Garnet "Don't worry about it. We'll get her next time"

"We wouldn't NEED a next time if I wouldn't have missed." I pushed her hand off of me and walked back to the warp panel before being teleported back to the house.

 **BACK ON THE SHIP**

"Do you think that she'll be ok?" Steven stared at the door that Diamond exited through.

"She'll be all right" Garnet said


	5. Chapter 5

**_Hiya! I'm not dead! WOO HOO! I was too caught up in finals for college to focus on this. Sadly, I FAILED college English. Probably gonna try again in the summer though._** ** _HaterOfBadFanfic: "Aren't those shock collars from another fanfic?" I don't read enough Steven U fanfics to know for sure. But since this is the internet, I'm pretty sure that SOMEONE has done it before me._** ** _OOOOO! Tempest MY DOG! Thanks for the support._**

 ** _Without any more introductions, Chapter 5! *crickets*_**

A COUPLE OF DAYS LATER

It took me a little bit to get over the missed arrow and the trap that I could've warned us about. But I got over it nonetheless. I spent the next few days holed up in Steven's room playing video games. Sometimes with him, sometimes without him. Today, we were playing Lonely Blade's newest fighting game: Lonely Blade IV: Revenge of the Dark Masters, head to head. He was using Lonely Blade (quite frankly, the most ridiculously overpowered character in fighting game history) and I was using Lonely Blade's new rival Shiva, assassin for hire. We were neck and neck in our first fight.

"Steven, whenever you have to get off to 'go to sleep' what do you do?" I said as I avoided one of his attacks.

"I just…sleep." He tried to grab me, but I countered.

"But what IS sleeping? Is it like regenerating?" I tried to use one of my combos, but I dropped it mid string "dang it."

"I suppose, yeah. Look, if you beat me, I'll show you how to sleep"

That's all of the motivation I needed. I knocked him out with a 25 hit combo that I spent hours perfecting.

THE WINNER IS: SHIVA NESTEROVIC "Now, show me."

Steven sighed "Ok, first, get into my bed and get under the covers." I relaxed on the surprisingly soft bed. "Then, just clear your mind and close your eyes." Within seconds I was plunged into the dream world.

And within seconds I wanted to go back.

I was back inside of the empty room where I was being held prisoner by Home World. But there were no hallucinations this time. A large opening formed, and a large, yellow gem walked in.

"No! Not you!" I tried to escape, but the chair didn't bulge.

"Now, now, that isn't the way to address your SISTER." Yellow Diamond looked down at me with a smirk that I wanted to snack off of her face.

"What do YOU want?!?" I nearly yelled at her.

"You know what I want, sis."

"And you're never going to get it" I was the one grinning now, and she didn't like that.

"Diamond, I don't understand. You, as a Diamond, are supposed to lead Home World to better times." She started pacing in front of me "You could have all of the soldiers, servants, land and territories that you want. But you still choose this path. Why?"

"It's not about that. I just don't want to be a part of a group who determines peoples duties and jobs based on what gem they're made with, doesn't give others any say as to what they should do. Even if their idea is smart. And destroy planets for weapons and resources!" Yellow Diamond got in my face after I said this, but she backed away shortly after.

She touched something on her wrist. "Yellow Diamond to HQ, send in a couple of Ruby squads to escort our high priority prisoner to the Black Box." The Black Box? What's a Black Box? She walked out of the room, and for a few seconds, everything was silent. Until the handcuffs were removed and about 10 Rubies walked in.

"PRISONER! We have direct orders to-!"

"Move me to the Black Box?" The leader of the Rubies, who wore some sick goggles with yellow tinted lenses, was not very happy about me cutting her off. But I wasn't finished. "What would happen if I were to… refuse to go there with you?" No way I'd lose to some rubies.

"We would drag you there by force!" Another ruby spoke up. She had a deeper voice, but not threatening in the slightest.

I started laughing "There is NO WAY I'd lose to the likes of you guys!"

"RUBIES! FORMATION!" The rubies climbed on top of one another before fusing into 2 giant rubies.

"Oh, you big girls wanna dance?" I summoned a weapon to fight the rubies… Scratch that. I TRIED to summon a weapon, but nothing happened. Oh, Crud. The 2 ruby giants took a couple steps forward, and I cowered a little. "OKAY OKAY! Let's talk about this for a bit."

I can't BELIEVE that I just surrendered to some rubies. Just seconds later, I was being escorted to the Black Box by the now unfused rubies who were bragging amongst themselves saying things like: "I can't believe that we beat a Diamond" and "Yeah, we were awesome back there". We arrived at a large black door. I was shoved inside and forced into a chair. My wrists and ankles were cuffed again, and headphones were placed on my ears.

Suddenly, a loud screeching noise sounded out in my ears. I grasped the handles of my chair and gritted my teeth as the sound tore at my ears. I felt my brain numb up as memories began falling through the cracks. Who am I? Why are they doing this to me? The pressure became too great. My vision blurred before it all went black.

16 YEARS AGO IN CREO

"EVERYONE! GET IN FORMATION! LINE UP BY GEM TYPE!" Our 'Teacher' (If you would even call her that) Was instructing us with the basics of life as a member of Home World in what could best be described as a 'school for gems'. But to do that, she had to arrange us by gem for some reason. Everyone formed their little groups and of course I was left out because none of them had a gem like mine. "HEY! YOU!" She pointed at me Here it comes. "DON'T YOU HAVE EARS ON YOU!?! GET WITH YOUR GEM GROUP!"

"None of them have gems like me" I said quietly. She walked up to me angrily.

"Show me your gem." I pulled my vest and short down to my chest and revealed my diamond. Her mouth went agape. "OH. MY… Please forgive me my Diamond. I MUST inform one of the higher ups of this development. Stay here."

I stood still and waited on her for a minute, until a Pearl snatched me and took me into a closet.

"What are you doing?" I asked. She was touching all over me. It was making me really uncomfortable.

"So the prophesies were true" She said as she stood up and stared me down.

"What prophesies?" I backed away from her to re obtain my personal space.

"Before we were made, one of the most highly regarded Sapphires had a vision of a new Diamond. One without a color. And she was going to oppose the league of Diamonds and drive them from rule. Of course she was held captive after she made the statement. But STILL!" She got in my face

"You're the chosen one."

I gasped as I woke up. Steven, Amethyst, Garnet, Pearl, and that dark skinned girl from earlier sat in a circle surrounding the bed looking at me.

"Aw, it was just getting good." Amethyst threw some popcorn in her mouth.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH! WHAT THE?!? WHAT THE FLIP ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!"

"Steven told us about what was happening and we came here to watch" Garnet said.

"That doesn't explain how you guys were LITERALLY WATCHING ME SLEEP!" I felt my face heat up from my anger.

"Your gem was playing your dream" Steven pointed at my gem. I looked down and noticed how I HAD MY SHIRT REMOVED. -_- "And it was pretty good"

"Also, WHO ARE YOU!?!" I pointed at the Dark skinned girl.

"Oh, I'm Connie, one of Steven's friends. It's nice to meet the 'Chosen One'" That stung.

"Whatever, just…get out of here. Everyone except Steven." I tried to get everyone out, but it wouldn't be that easy.

"No. You have some questions to answer. Like why you didn't tell us about this earlier?" Pearl said.

"That's easy. I didn't remember any of this. You could probably see why." I looked down.

"Alright, if she wants space. Let's give her space" Garnet said. And exit the Crystal Gems.

"Well, bye Steven. It's getting late."

"Bye Connie." Steven watched sadly as Connie left. "Alright, time to get to sleep."

Steven went into the bathroom and… to be honest I don't even know what people DO in there. He came out shortly after in new clothes before jumping into bed. "Diamond, we can share the bed if you want."

"Nah, that's kinda…weird." I've seen quite a few movies that I was 'too young for', and I know what happens in these situations.

I walked out of the house and sat down on the beach near the ocean. The moonlight shone on the ocean. The view was absolutely beautiful. After doing that for about 30 minutes, I went back to the house to play some of Steven's video games (Since he's usually asleep by then). I gingerly walked up the steps that led to his bedroom.

But the bed was empty.

"STEVEN! WHERE ARE YOU?!" No response. I opened the door to the bathroom and looked inside. It was empty as well. OH NO. Fearing the worst, I ran to the warp pad and warped to the most recently used warp pad destination. I was teleported to one of those 'warp stations'. Steven and that Peridot were sitting on a warp pad. "You again?"

The Peridot groaned "Why can't you just LEAVE ME ALONE!?!"

"I will." I smirked "Just give me one good reason why I shouldn't tear apart the rest of your gear, destroy your current form, and permanently remove you from the universe."

The Peridot looked down and sighed "Well, I'm the only one who knows-"

"PERIDOT!" Garnet and the rest of the Crystal Gems found out about this…somehow and as the Peridot began to retreat, they grabbed Steven. "Gems, move!"

"WAIT! I THINK THAT SHE WAS GOING TO SPILL SOME VALUABLE INFO!" The Crystal Gems completely ignored me as they went to work. The Peridot shot a couple of energy balls which the gems easily avoided. Amethyst wrapped up the Peridot in her whip as she tried to fly away again. The Peridot tried to electrocute Amethyst with her own weapon, but Garnet grabbed the whip and redirected the shock back to Peridot before SLAMMING HER ONTO THE GROUND. D*!

The Peridot was surrounded "Wait. You need me" She charged up another ball of energy and turned towards Pearl, who was behind her. "I'M THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS ABOUT THE-"

POOF

She went back into her gem form.

"What on earth?" Pearl said as she stared at the Peridot's combat gear.

"Ew , there's bits of her all over" If I didn't know that she was forced into her gem form, I would've believed what Amethyst said. Luckily l, I did.

"No, she's right here" Garnet put the Peridot in a bubble and teleported it "And now she's in the temple."

"C'mon guys! She was so close to spilling some Intel." I was frustrated now.

"Those are just the desperate lies of a gem whose been caught. You don't need to worry about her." Garnet began to walk away. No way to sway her.

I groaned as we walked to the warp pad and warped back to the house.

LATER

Steven and I were lying down on his bed looking up at the ceiling. "Steven."

"What is it Diamond?"

"I cannot believe what I saying." I sighed "but we need that Peridot. She knows more about Home World and their plans than anyone else on the planet. We have to get to where she's being held."

"I agree" Steven said "But how are we gonna do it?"

I pulled him close to me. "Ok, here's the plan."

5 MINUTES LATER.

I summoned my gauntlets and began to go to town on one of the ancient gem headquarters. Before the Crystal Gems showed up I warped back into the house. Within seconds, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst warped to the room.

"Steven, Diamond! Want to go on a mission?" Garnet asked.

"Nah, we're good." I winked at Steven as they warped to the base to deal with the 'threat'. Steven and I ran to the door that was behind the warp pad. It opened to a room with nothing but pink clouds. We walked inside.

"Okay room, take us to the basement. The REAL basement. Where all of the gems are held." The room followed Steven's command, and a pole that led to this 'basement' was formed.

"WOOHOO!" I completely ignored the pole and jumped down into the basement. Steven had to use the pole though.

And he still ended up face planting while I landed on my feet effortlessly.

We began looking around for the Peridot's gem. It didn't take us long.

"THERE!" I said as I pointed at the green gemstone. I jumped, grabbed the gem, and threw it at the ground as hard as I could. The bubble that was around the gem popped, and the Peridot emerged.

"-THE CLUSTER YOU INSUFFERABLE TRAITOROUS CLODS!" The Peridot Appeared in her true form. Not nearly as intimidating or threatening as before. She was shorter than me.

"Aww, you're so cute" Steven walked around inspecting the Peridot's true form.

I chuckled a little "Steven, we're not here to date her, we're here to get information."

"My limb enhancers!? Where are my limb enhancers!?!" The Peridot looked around for her gear, but it isn't here.

"Aw, you're like your own little slice of pie." Maybe Steven DOES want to date her…Ugh.

"Stop talking! I DEMAND to know what this place is and where are-" She looked up at all of the other bubbled up gems that Were in here "Oh. My. Stars. You're going to harvest me?' I wish.

"No! I mean" Steven was slapped by the Peridot "OW! That hurt."

"It did?" The Peridot said as if she was surprised that it did anything at all.

"Yea. A lot." Steven rubbed his face where he was slapped. The Peridot waited for a second before slapping Steven again.

"Yes! Feel my unbridled RAGE!" The Peridot began slapping Steven repeatedly.

"Stop." The Peridot followed Steven's command. "What's that on your shirt?"

"What's a shirt?" the Peridot said moments before getting flicked in the nose by Steven. "That's it." The Peridot tackled Steven before slapping him. The fight escalated into a little brawl. I could've (maybe should've) stepped in, but it was just too funny to stop.

"Why are you doing this?" Steven asked as the Peridot began to gain the upper hand.

"You've smashed me into a limbless clod, you trapped me in your bubble dungeon, AND you called me…cute." She fell face first onto the ground. I started laughing.

"I didn't hurt you. I FREED you. "Steven tried to reason with the Peridot

"Technically, I freed her. But whatever." I said. Gotta take credit for no reason.

"Uhh, why is this CLOD here!" The Peridot stared at me angrily.

"You really want to say that? I'll have you shattered into a billion pieces and shipped off to Home World as space dust! If I were you I'd start talking about this cluster…NOW." Home World gems make me SICK!

"Do you really want to know about the Cluster?" the Peridot leaned in towards us. We both nodded. She was about to tell us some groundbreaking Intel.

Then she turned tail and ran like the coward that she is.

I could've caught her instantly, but I decided to just jog with her until she got herself into trouble. And that she did. We ran through a door that led us back to the house, where Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst sat at the table talking.

"Ha Ha! Freedom is mine!" That smile was quickly wiped off of her face when she realized that she ran directly to the rest of the Crystal Gems. She began to run away, but everywhere she ran inside of the house, she was cut off. She ran inside of the bathroom and shut the door. "You may have won the war, but the battle isn't over CRYSTAL CLODS!" That doesn't even make sense.

"You do realize that you just trapped yourself inside of a 1 way room that's going to be constantly monitored by us now CLOD?!?" I said. I tried to open the door, but it was locked.

Garnet banged on the door "PERIDOT! OPEN UP!"

"We had her bubbled, how did she get out" Pearl began to think as it became a little uncomfortable for me being so close to getting caught. So, I walked out while whistling.

THE NEXT DAY

I looked around the house for any signs of the rest of the Crystal Gems. The coast is definitely clear. Before finally turning to Steven, who was sitting beside his bed, and asking "Did they find out?"

"Yes, we've found out about your little stunt." I turned to see Garnet standing behind me with her arms crossed. I almost DIED.

"Wha- I…You… YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE! I checked everywhere!"

"Not Quite." Garnet looked towards a cabinet in the kitchen.

"You can't even FIT INSIDE something that small!"

"I can't, but Ruby and Sapphire can" = I'm done for. I groaned loudly. "You shouldn't have tricked us."

"Yeah," I looked down at the floor "but it was the only way that we could get her to tell us what she knows."

"Even then, I don't like being lied to or tricked. No-one does. You need to think about others before you act. Now you must pay the price for your actions."

"P-p-price?" This can't end well.

"Yes, price." Garnet thought about my punishment for a little bit "No missions until I think that you've learned your lesson." That hit me like a nuclear bomb. I tried to argue, but nothing came out of my mouth as she walked through the door that was behind the warp pad and disappeared.

Nothing I can do about that now.

I frowned before sitting down beside Steven and picking up a controller. My head down the entire time.

"C'mon Diamond, cheer up. It could be worse." Steven tried to cheer me up, but I just groaned in response. We played the 2 player vs. Bots mode on the Lonely Blade fighting game. I was in the zone. No dropped combos, no damage taken, the works. But after 30 minutes of that

"Diamond, I have to go to the bathroom. Be right back." Steven had to do…something in the bathroom. He paused the game, knocked on the door of the bathroom; and after a short talk with the Peridot, walked into the bathroom while I leaned against the bed.

What am I supposed to do now that I can't go on missions? While this thought was tearing at my mind, Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst walked out of the door that was behind the warp pad and walked right up to the bathroom door. Garnet knocked on the door hard and said

"Open up Peridot! If this 'cluster' is putting us in danger, you need to tell us what it is so we can stop it!"

"No! I hate you. I'm not telling you anything about the cluster!" The whole ordeal was pointless.

"Oh, come on…" Amethyst started "It's only a big hunk of…granola?" I giggled a little bit at that comment.

"What's Granola?" The Peridot asked, but nobody answered because there was no reason to.

"Now Amethyst, I'm sure it's not granola." Pearl walked up to the door to give it a go "Now Peridot, I'm sure that we reach some sort of…agreement. Maybe a trade is in order?"

"Oh, sure! How about you give me my leg enhancements and my arm attachments and my streams with my logs and all of my information! Ow wait, YOU DESTROYED THEM! So no, I don't think we can reach some sort of agreement!" Bored and uninterested, I unplugged Steven's controller and played the mode with the computer instead.

I heard the bathroom door open. It took him long enough. "Sorry for interrupting your interrogation." He said.

"Don't worry about it Steven." Garnet responded.

50 HIT COMBO! 100 HIT COMBO! YOU'RE ON FIRE PLAYER 2! I inputted commands in my controller so fast that it almost gave out. I wasn't really focusing on the conversation at this point.

"I swear Peridot's gonna crack any second now!" Pearl boasted.

"No she won't." I said rather dully.

"I'll never crack to the likes of you! You…CRYSTAL CLODS!" The Peridot exclaimed to prove my point.

"I got your clods right HERE ya little" I paused the game instantly to see what could've been a Peridot beat down.

"Hold up Pearl. Peridot isn't going to do any harm. Let's investigate the crime scene." But Garnet ruined my dream.

The rest of the Crystal Gems walked to the warp pad. "Guys, can I come too?" Steven asked.

"Only if Diamond is ok with it." Garnet said loud enough for me to hear easily.

"I am." I was destroying the game mode's boss: A super charged Samurai, with relative ease. The second after they left, I dealt the finishing blow to him, and ended up obtaining an S rank (The highest rank obtainable)

I walked down to the living area and sat down on the couch by the window to savor my victory.

"If it's THEM you're worried about, they're gone. If you leave the bathroom, I won't tell anyone." It began to sprinkle, and I watched the rain drop from the safety of the house.

"NO! I like it here!" The Peridot was obviously lying, but I didn't care.

The rain gradually got worse, and when the thunder began to roll, the Peridot burst out of the door. "It's happening!" she yelled.

"What's happening?" I asked out of fear for her sanity….not really

"The Cluster!" She sprinted towards me.

"That's just thunder." I said coolly.

"What's thunder?" She asked as if I knew

"Your guess is as good as mine" I turned towards the window as she sat beside me on the couch, looking outside as well. "But I DO know that they appear after lightning, something that I know NOTHING about." Right after I said this,

BANG!

The thunder shook us up, and we hugged each other for protection. We caught on to what we were doing quickly, and reeled back just as fast.

"What about this weird liquid that's falling out of the sky?" The Peridot was just as clueless as I was when I arrived. That comforted me in a weird way.

"Well, when water gets really hot, it turns into a gas and rises into the atmosphere. Once that gas gets cool and heavy, it falls as rain. It's perfectly safe. You can go out there if you want, just don't try anything."

"I'll go, but only if you go first." I didn't want to get wet, but it's not like I had anything else to do. I sprinted out of the house. Instead of taking the stairs, I leapt down to the wet sandy area, doing a front flip before landing on my feet.

"You see? I'm not dead yet. C'mon scaredy cat, I hate getting wet." I waited impatiently as the Peridot put her hand out and tested the water before finally walking out into the rain. "Good, now let's go back inside, I hate the rain."

Inside

I sat down on the couch again as the Peridot paced around the room. She stopped, stared at me and put her hands together.

"Diamond, I can't believe that I'm telling you this, but…thank you for doing that."

"Whatever. This doesn't make us friends. I still hate you." I gave her the best 'Mean face' that I could pull off.

"Whatever." She continued pacing "You're not as big of an idiot as I thought."

"Gee, thanks." I said sarcastically.

"I could definitely use you…but I don't know…"

"If you want help, go ask Steven. I'm not doing anything for YOU." I crossed my arms, closed my eyes and turned away. Right on cue, Steven appeared at the warp panel.

"You two have been getting along I see." Steven smiled, I just rolled my eyes. He walked up to where The Peridot was standing in front of me.

"Getting along is definitely last on the list of what we're doing. Just sitting near her is making me really uncomfortable." I retorted.

"HEY!" The Peridot looked at me angrily before turning to Steven. "I need to tell you something about the cluster" Steven perked up even more than before. I, however was a bit skeptical. What are you up to Peridot?

Steven gasped "You've cracked?!?"

"No I haven't cracked!" The Peridot had a ton of pride. I hated it.

"You have to tell the gems, they need to know this." Steven began to turn around to go to the warp pad.

"Not necessarily." I butted in.

"I don't want to talk to them. You two are the ones that I NEED. I could show you two now, but I have nothing! My arm attachments, my fingers, my screen, my LOG. It's all gone. But all of my logs up to date 652 still exist. The Prime Kindergarten" The Peridot almost begged.

"The WHAT!?! WHY do we need to go there?" I don't wanna see another one of THOSE.

"Because if we don't, I can't tell you about the cluster" The Peridot was right, I would just have to tough it out.

"Fine, let's just get this over with." I mumbled as I stood up and walked to the warp pad.

"We'll go, buuut you'll have to hold hands with me the entire time." Steven said to the Peridot. I giggled.

"1 step closer to marriage!" I teased.

"What's a marriage?" The Peridot asked.

"It's when 2 people that love each other make a pact to stay with each other forever." When Steven told the Peridot this, she gave me a look that was supposed to be threatening, but it wasn't in the slightest.

GUESS WHERE? JUST DO IT. YES, IT'S JOHN CENA! (AT THE KINDERGARTEN)

We warped to the kindergarten and almost immediately I noticed the eeriness of it all. Everything here was just like the one in Creo: Holes everywhere, homeworld tech everywhere. But, thankfully, No gems.

"Here we are!" Steven said cheerful as always. I really couldn't see how anyone could be happy here.

"Great! Let's go!" The Peridot took Steven's hand and led him STRAIGHT OFF OF A CLIFF

"AHHH!"

I ran down the cliff and caught them both with relative ease. "Try not to get hurt every 5 seconds, ok?"

"I'll try."

"Whatever."

With the Peridot leading us, we began walking towards our destination.

"Man, this place gets worse and worse every time I come here." Steven spoke truth. This place WAS a dump.

"I know, it's been so poorly managed. It must have been in a much better state when you emerged" The Peridot said.

"Um, Steven didn't emerge, he was born. He's an "animal". Not in a bad way- I'm just saying." I pointed out.

"Yea, I came from my mom and my dad."

"Mom? Dad? What are those, rocks? Another planet?" The Peridot's ignorance never failed to amaze.

"No, they're like…different versions of the same species that reproduce sexually. They do this by…" I stopped myself "You know what, if you care about it a month from now I'll tell you. I don't wanna mention it Now. Just know that his mom is a gem an I think that his dad is human."

"So you're some sort of hybrid? How's that possible?" The Peridot asked. Steven opened his mouth to start talking about the Ballad of Rose and Greg. Something that NOBODY had time for. Luckily,

"I don't care, let's hurry to the control room." The Peridot saved herself.

"You sure this is safe? Last time I was here there were a bunch of fusion monsters" I wanted to ask Steven what he's talking about, but I decided against it.

"Yes, I was checking their progress." Progress, wait a minute.

"What's the deal with those things?" Steven asked as we walked up to a strange square opening in the ground. We slid down into whatever was below the kindergarten.

"When it became clear that the Earth was no longer a viable colony, homeworld decided to use it for something else. A series of experiments. A gem geo weapon." Peridot basically described what was going to happen to Creo for no reason whatsoever.

"And you helped them do this?" I asked, expecting a yes since she knew so much about it.

"Negative, sadly, I wasn't around to be a part of this." We began walking towards a large, green gem invention of some sort "But, I have read over hundreds I years I reports." She sounded happy about reading that much. I couldn't see why.

"This is where you need to be, right?" Steven asked. The large gem surely LOOKED important.

"Yes, I'll need to remove this panel and do a little bit of work to restore power to this room so…" The Peridot started.

"I've got it." I said in an uninterested manner as I removed the hidden panel and got the wires back in order. Which brought power back to the room. All in 3 seconds flat.

"Not perfect, but that'll do." The Peridot said as she walked to the control panel that was in the room. What do you mean 'Not perfect'?

The Peridot struggled with the control panel because she was a little too short. I walked up to it, and, using my height, Lowered the control panel. She looked at me with bad intentions, but nothing happened.

She put her hand on said panel and a bunch of random stuff appeared on the screens that surrounded us. "These are the early attempts of artificial gem fusion."

"So, they just smashed 2 gems together and CALLED it fusion?" I asked.

"Yes" the Peridot responded.

"That's homeworld for you. Never caring about anything but their stupid agenda. Even if it means destroying gems." I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth. The Peridot wasn't happy with what I said, but she continued

"But these were just prototypes for the final product: a giant artificial fusion composed of millions of gem shards that, when awoken, will destroy the planet. The cluster" Totally called it.

"So there's a giant gem mutant the size of Earth under us right now?" I tried to contain myself, but I couldn't stop myself from chuckling at Steven's question.

"No, no." The Peridot started "When it forms it will be much bigger than the earth. Right now, it lies dormant in the Earth's core, but when it emerge and takes it's physical form, it will destroy the planet. The prototypes are already emerging, the cluster is next. If we can't get off this planet we have to stop the cluster!" The Peridot looked inspired.

"Well, it seems like I have no choice. What about you Ste-" I looked over at Steven, but he looked terrified. "Oookay then."

"I thought that this would be impossible, but now we have a chance." The Peridot grinned.

"Why do we have a chance NOW?" I asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" The Peridot stared jogging out of the hole that we were in, Steven and I followed her "You two have a lot of knowledge that has to deal with earth and its erratic behavior. Combine that with my superior knowledge of tech, and we just may be able to stop it."

"I may be able to help you, but I'm not sure that Steven has the knowledge that will help us. No offense. I think that we need the Crystal Gems to help us." I knew that she would be against asking for their help, but we have to.

"No. We don't need their help! I don't need their help." The Peridot tried to assure us.

"What is it? Pride? Or maybe your ego is so big that you think that you're better than everyone else!" I really ticked the Peridot off with that comment.

She stopped walking and turned around to face me "What is that supposed to mean? You're just a CLOD who is too stupid to ever reach her full potential. Who runs AWAY from power?"

"What is that supposed to mean? I'll SHOW you what it's supposed to mean!" I balled up my fists, but before I could charge at her, Steven got between the two of us.

"Guys come on. Can't we all just get along?"

Before I could say no, something else caught my eye. Out of nowhere, Frankenstein-ish monsters started appearing. An arm with legs, a body with arms, everything but a normal gem. "Guys, we have a problem."

Steven turned around and saw what I was looking at. "Gem mutants." One of them, the biggest of them all, charged at us. The moment before he crushed us, Steven summoned his bubble barrier. The Gem Mutant kicked the bubble, sending us about 100 feet away from it. Surprisingly, we landed upright.

"…… Let me out of the bubble." I commanded and Steven, while hesitant, complied. He made the bubble shield disappear. "Stay behind me." I summoned by bow and aimed at the newly formed crowd of gem mutants. I focused for a second, noticed that the tip of my arrow started to glow white, and fired at the giant mutant in the middle. The arrow flew towards the group. Right before it could come in contact with the mutant, it flew straight up in the air. Before I could question anything, the arrow split into about 50 different arrows. When they rained down on the mutants, they all exploded.

BOOM! BANG! POW!

The ground shook with the immense force of the explosive arrows. In the span of 3 seconds, all of the gem mutants were destroyed. The only thing that remained were small gem fragments that sprinkled down slowly. I looked back at Steven and the Peridot, whose jaws were dropped.

"Erm, justice rains from above?" Neither of them got the joke that I made. "Let's just get to the warp pad." I grabbed them both and ran towards the warp pad. Right before I reached it, it started to glow, signaling its use. I immediately hid inside of a large, person shaped hole and took the two with me.

"What was that all about?" The Peridot questioned my decision, I responded with a decisive 'SHHH'.

"Garnet, are you sure that they're HERE of all places" I heard Pearl ask.

"Positive" Garnet responded.

"Yo, what is with that weird smoke cloud in the distance?" Amethyst walked past the hole that we were hiding in."

"That's them. GEMS LET'S GO!" Garnet commanded.

I waited a few seconds to be 100% sure that they were gone. Once I confirmed that the coast was clear, I walked out of the hole and strutted to the warp pad. "You guys thought that we were going to get caught. Didn't ya?"

"I have to admit, I got a little nervous. I thought that we would be through when the gem mutants showed up. You were AMAZING." Steven said.

"Well… um… thanks." I smirked a little bit.

"Yeah, I'm impressed. I thought that you were brainless, but there's SOMETHING in there." I rolled my eyes when I heard the Peridot say this.

Once we reached the warp pad, we warped back to the beach house. I immediately sat down on the couch to relax. Steven sat beside me on the couch and the Peridot sat in another chair that was near the window.

"So, when are we gonna go back and bubble them?" Steven asked.

I giggled a bit "Bubble? Bubble what, the tiny shards of those…things?"

"So, we can't bubble them because you…shattered them?" I saw little tears form in Steven's eyes. Oh crap.

"Of course. It was us or them Steven. I had t-"

"NO!" Steven was full on crying now "You didn't HAVE to do anything! You're a heartless monster!" Steven got up off of the couch and stormed out of the house.

"Steven, wai-" BANG, he slammed the door "t. Aw man! First the gems, now Steven. I'm on a roll." I slumped down in the chair. The warp pad made a noise, and within seconds, the Crystal Gems appeared. It just gets better and better.

"Diamond, where's Steven?!?" Garnet said in a somewhat threatening tone.

"He's fine, relax. He's just outside…crying." I cupped my hands and put my face in them. Amethyst and Garnet ran outside to comfort Steven. I heard Pearl's footsteps as she neared the door. But instead of going outside she sat on the couch beside me.

"Hey, Diamond?" I groaned in response "I know that you may think that everyone is mad at you and doesn't trust you. But that is far from the truth. You're a great addition to the Crystal Gems. We weren't even mad about you lying to us. Don't let this get you down." I looked up as she ruffled my hair and walked away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Person of the world, I don't have any lame, dead puns or memes to use so... thanks. I really mean it.**

 **To the next Chapter!**

After that, I simply walked out of the house and wandered around for a while. Long enough for the sunny sky to be enveloped by the darkness. I thought about how I'd become Steven's friend again. Or, at the very least, not _A heartless monster._ I sat down where I was walking on the beach. I held back tears that were beginning to form in my eyes, until I heard the sound of an instrument playing. And it was beautiful.

I followed the sound, which eventually led me to a white van with a weird looking vinyl that emphasize the words 'Mr. Universe'. _Isn't that Steven's last name?_ I walked around to the back of the van to see a middle aged man playing a….. _what is that?_ After staring at him for a bit he must have taken notice.

"Are you just gonna stand there or what?" The man questioned my awkward 'stand and stare' technique, like any sane person should.

"Yea… I MEAN NO. I just, like your music." _I must look like a total weirdo right now._ "Are you Mr. Universe?"

"Yea, but that's just an old stage name that I came up with. Just call me Greg." _Oh, so he's NOT related to him._ He continued to play away at his.. thingy. For a little bit. I lay down on the sand to relax and listen to the music. I couldn't clear my mind of what had happened earlier. I couldn't keep a frown off of my lips either. Suddenly, he stopped playing and looked at me with concern.

"You look like you've seen better days. Would it be rude to ask what's wrong?"

"No, not at all." I sighed "My best friend got really mad at me for doing something, and he probably doesn't want to see me again. I don't know how to become his friend again."

"Have you tried apologizing?" He asked.

"Apologizing? I don't know if that will work." I replied, skeptical of such an easy way out.

"You'll never know if you never try." That statement stuck with me for some reason.

"You know what? you're right. Thanks for the advice Greg!"

"Hey, you don't need to thank me." He started playing the instrument again, and I listened for about 30 more minutes before deciding to walk along the beach some more.

"Ok Greg, it was a pleasure listening to you, but I have to go." I gave him a wide smile before beginning to walk off.

"Wait!" He called "You never told me your name!"

"It's Diamond! You know, like the rock!?" I waved at him as I walked away.

 _Okay, all I have to do is apologize to him._ That would never happen. I just couldn't muster up the courage to face him again. So all that I could do was… wander.

 **A FEW DAYS LATER….**

I was watching the sunset from the beach again. I had changed my shirt from the black shirt with a yellow star to a black tank top with the words 'no risk, no reward' printed in yellow. _Anything to forget about…that._ I was listening to My Delirium by Ladyhawke. I also found a cool pair of black aviator sunglasses that I was wearing at the moment. I felt someone touch my shoulder. Quickly, I whirled around to see Garnet. _Not again…._ She gestured for me to take off my headphones, and I complied. I sighed and said

"Lay it on me."

"Don't worry, I'm not here to scold you." She said in her always composed voice.

"Then what is it that you need?" I asked in a curious manner.

"We need you to look over our drill to see if it's ready to destroy the cluster." I was surprised that she would even ask me to do that.

"Erm… why do you need be to do that?" I asked.

"Well, Peridot said that you should be very knowledgeable when it comes to gem tech, so we thought that we should get a second opinion on our drill design."

"Well, I AM qualified. Lead the way!" I grinned at her.

She led me to an old farm that was in the middle of nowhere. Their driller sat in front of a red barn. The Peridot stood in front of the drill proudly, Pearl was inspecting the drill, and Amethyst was leaning on it; but no Steven. My mood plummeted again.

"So, CLOD, what do you think about our design?" The Peridot grinned widely.

"Well," I said while walking around it. "Do you have diamond tips on the drills? They ARE the hardest material after all." I shot the Peridot a smug grin.

"Yes?" The Peridot looked up at Pearl for a confirmation

"Yes." Pearl said.

"Well, there's one thing that I KNOW that you guys don't have." I smirked.

"And what could that possibly be." The Peridot somewhat taunted me.

"A top of the line, grade S power core." The Peridot gasped before laughing seconds later.

"No way we can get out hands on such tech." She said.

"All I need is 5 minutes and a warp panel." I said confidently.

"Alright, I'm coming with you though." Garnet said.

"Can I ask a question before you go?" Pearl said.

"Sure. Ask away." I put my hands on the back of my head and leaned back a little.

"What's the big deal about this 'Grade S power core'?" She looked at me for a little before going back to inspecting the drill.

"Well," I started.

"The power core that we're using is most likely grade D or C. Very primitive in nature. Grade S power cores are exclusively used to power the Diamonds' vessels. Which is why I highly doubt there being one HERE." The Peridot cut me off... _I'm sick of this._

"Oh, there is one here, 99.99% sure of it." I grinned widely after saying this.

"If there is one here, how do you know about it. I've read thousands of logs, and nothing mentioned that." The Peridot challenged me.

"Maybe It's out of your pay grade." I winked at the Peridot, who looked like she was about to explode "Let's go Garnet. To the Prime Kindergarten!" I could feel the confusion that I created when I said that, so I just ran off towards the beach house with Garnet following me.

When we reached the house, it was empty. However, I paid no mind to that, and walked straight to the warp pad. Garnet followed me up, of course.

 **At the Prime Kindergarten…**

"So what are we looking for?" Garnet asked out of curiosity as we neared that weird hole in the ground.

"We aren't looking for anything.. I already know where it IS!" I screamed as I slid down into the hole. "WOO HOO!" Garnet followed me down, but being the cool cucumber that she is, she made no sound. I landed on my feet softly before walking towards the control panel that was in the center of the room. All while jamming out to another song. I looked back at Garnet, who mouthed out the words:

'You seem to be enjoying that song, can I listen too?'

I hung my headphones around my neck and turned both the left and right ear cups away from my face. That made the music play much, MUCH louder. Violent and Young by Iglu & Hartly played loud and true from my headphones.

"Nice tunes" Garnet said while giving me a thumb up.

"T-Thanks" I replied. By now, I had reached the control panel. I put my hand flat on it and said , "Kindergarten A.I., I have a request." A large, clear cylinder enclosed me as I was scanned via a bright white light.

"What is your request, my Diamond?" A robotic voice said as the cylinder was removed.

"It would be appreciated if you were to give me this Kindergarten's grade S power core." I winked at Garnet.

"Right away, my Diamond." The AI said as it got to work. Within a few seconds an opening formed in the control panel and a massive, pink stone was pushed through it. I looked at it apprehensively.

"How are we going to use something that big on the drill?" Garnet asked as she walked up beside me and looked at the stone.

"Um…." I snapped my fingers. "Oh yeah!" I put my right index finger and thumb on the stone and slid them together like I was zooming out on a smartphone. The stone became much smaller. I looked at Garnet and said "Don't ask."

"I won't." She said as we began walking out of the base.

We were, for the most part, quiet during the journey back to the barn. We just let the music blast from my headphones.

When we returned to the barn, everything was just how it was when we left it. Except this time the Peridot and Pearl were discussing something beside a chalkboard. Amethyst was resting an a bale of hay inside of the barn. I got their attention when I said "Care package for the Crystal Gems!" and held out the power core.

"No. WAY!" The Peridot bolted towards me. When she got to me, she examined the power core. "That's the real deal alright! Imagine what we'll be able to DO with this!" The Peridot squealed as she snatched the power core and ran into the barn. _Gee, your welcome =/_

"So… I guess my work here is done. Adios, mi amiga." I waved at Garnet before beginning to walk back towards Beach City.

"Don't you have one more thing to do?" Garnet asked. I stopped suddenly and turned around towards her.

"What are you talking about?" I gave her a cool grin, expecting Garnet to suggest that we do something fun.

"You know what I'm talking about." Her voice became much more serious in an instant, and I realized what she was mentioning.

"…Oh. That." The grin died as quickly as it was born. I looked down and away from Garnet.

"You mean to tell me that you WEREN'T going to apologize?" Garnet got a little mad all of a sudden. I gulped.

My voice shrunk to a barely audible squeak "No… I just-"

"Save it. The rest of the gems need to hear this." _Oh boy…_

 **IN THE BARN**

I was sitting on one of the many bales of hay inside of the barn with Garnet and Pearl standing a few feet away from me, the Peridot was working on the drill, but you-know-who was missing again.

"Why can't you just apologize Diamond?!" Pearl demanded.

"I never said that!" I was truly angry for the first time "I just…. I don't get why what I did was wrong! We were surrounded and it was kill or be killed! Everything, all of.. THIS! Just for a bunch of dumb gem shards smashed together!" I felt the life get sucked out of the room for a second… then everyone recovered.

"Those gem shards didn't choose to be like that, they were fused against their will. I expected better than this Diamond." Garnet walked out of the barn after saying that. Amethyst followed shortly after. Pearl looked at me for a second, then shook her head and left as well. _Well isn't this delightful…._

I left the barn and went back to the beach, where I could think clearly. _Am I really wrong? I must be if everyone is against my opinion like that. Maybe those…things are still gems too._

 ** _But you can't apologize._**

 _What? I can apologize._

 ** _No, apologizing is for the weak. We've have been working our whole life to prove to everyone that we aren't weak. You don't want to look weak, don't you?_**

 _No. But-_

"Is there room for one more?" I heard a familiar voice behind me. I whirled around to se none other than

"Steven! I…Of course there's room!" He sat down and watched the waves roll with me.

 _Apologizing is the only way that the Crystal Gems will let me back in. I have to do it._

 ** _No. You. Don't! We don't need those Crystal Clods anyway, we're a 1 woman show._**

 _Who ever said that, we've always needed other people, and until there's nothing standing in the way of the Diamonds we'll always need back-up._

 ** _UGH, you were always naïve, go on and apologize, just know that YOU'VE been holding us back._**

"Diamond, DIAMOND!" Steven snapped me out of my deep thought.

"Huh? Oh! Sorry. I was out of it for a second." I giggled a bit out of embarrassment. "Hey, um… Steven?"

"What is it, Diamond?" Steven looked up at me.

"I'm…I-I-I'm"

"You're sorry?" I nodded repeatedly at Steven "You didn't have to tell me that, I knew it all along." He started laughing.

"WHAT!" I nearly screamed.

"Yeah, my Dad told me, so I went looking for you. But you just…disappeared."

"Oh… right…. WAIT! Mr. Universe is your dad!?"

"Yup." _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_

"Well, now that we're friends again," I turned my headphones out again, allowing music to blast through them at max power again "Let's just chill on the beach"

"No can do" Steven said while standing up. I turned off my music and asked

"Why?"

"Because, I've got to work on the drill. Do you wanna come too?" He smiled at me again.

"No I'll pass, I've helped enough today anyway." I smirked at him.

"Okay, I'll see ya when I'm done!" He began to run off.

"Okay, I'll be waiting at the house!" I waved at him.

"Bye Diamond!"

"Peace!"

After relaxing on the beach for a while and watching the sunset, I returned to the beach house, where I played some of Steven's new video games. _What's taking him so long?_ Out of frustration, I left the house and ran back to the barn, where I saw the whole gang staring at a… _PINK LION? I QUIT._

"Diamond! You made it just in time!" Steven said in his always happy tone.

"Just in time for what? The Circus?" The lion didn't seem too happy about my response, and growled in response.

"Hey, lions have feelings too. Apologize to lion." Steven wasn't too thrilled about me saying that either. _UGH, Not this again._

I sighed and said "I'm sorry…lion" in an uninspired tone.

Then everyone began to hop on the lion's back, with Steven literally phasing through its hair.

"C'mon Diamond, Lion won't bite, I promise." Steven winked at me after saying that. I don't like winkers that aren't me.

"Where are we even going? Can't I just run?" I didn't want to ride that thing so I tried to find a way out.

"It's a surprise, just get on" Said Steven, who snickered a little. _I don't like this_. But I hopped onto the lion nonetheless.

 **MOMENTS LATER...**

"OH CRAP, OH MAN, AAAAH!" I was the only one screaming as the lion bolted down a hill before OPENING A PORTAL and running through it. Then the real fun began. We were in a warp like area, except now we were flying at unheard of speeds on a **lion.** And it kept accelerating and accelerating.

"Pretty cool, right!?" Steven said as the lion reached speeds that I could only dream of reaching.

"No! Not cool! Not cool! Make it stop! Oh man!" I was essentially screaming at this point. The lion was moving so fast that we weren't able to sit down on it, and we had to grab onto it or each other to stay on the thing. I took hold of Garnet's leg and held on for dear life. Eventually, we did reach our destination. While everyone else was able to stay on the lion through the landing, I lost grip right after we made it, and I couldn't regain control of my spinning body, so I landed on my back. Right in front of the lion and the gems.

I was out of it for a few seconds. I could hear unidentifiable voices in my head. "Is she ok?" "I don't know. That fall was really hard." "Well we can't just leave her here."

I groaned as I quickly recovered and sat up. I saw 5 pairs of eyes staring at me. "I'm fine" I said "Now, what are we doing here?" I shot up into a standing position almost instantly.

"We're currently at a Diamond base on the moon where we are looking for the location of the cluster." Pearl said before using her gem as a flash light and looking around for where the location would be. Garnet did the exact same thing. _….Wait, THE MOON?_

"Doesn't really look like the moon." Steven commented as he began to look around. _Of course, we're…never mind._

"Over here! Look! I think it's a door." Amethyst ran to open the only thing separating us and space.

"No! Don-" I don't even know why I tried.

The door opened, and I was almost thrown off balance and dragged into space, but Amethyst closed it before that could happen.

"Yep! We on the moon!" Amethyst exclaimed in a happy manner.

"THINK BEFORE YOU ACT WOMAN!" I yelled. I got no response but a couple unhappy grumbles from Amethyst.

Steven began laughing and giggling, so I looked to see what was so funny. He was having fun with the planet's low gravity, and it looked awesome. "I'm moonboy!" He exclaimed. _I wish that I could do that._

Amethyst ran up to Steven and said "Alright Moonboy!" Before trying to jump herself. Apparently she did not know that we can't do that. She faceplanted almost instantly. I held back a laugh.

Meanwhile, Steven floated upwards saying "Moonboy quadruple backflip!" before doing a quadruple backflip.

"Hey! Why can't I be a Moonboy?" _Amethyst, I'm sure that you don't want to be the 1st male gem in existence._

"Um, we're gems." Peridot said in a sarcastic tone. _Here comes the complicated, convoluted answer._ "We're a space faring race designed to conquer other worlds, our physical forms adjust to the gravity of any planetoid" _=_=_

"We didn't need all of that" I said.

"What? Your tiny Clod brain can't handle it?" The Peridot retorted. _GRR…_

"Diamond!... Peridot. No more fighting." Garnet commanded. I sighed, and said

"Fine." The Peridot remained silent.

"Hey Peridot! Who is this supposed to be!?" The Peridot ran to Steven who was standing in front of a large mural of- _Oh. My. CLOD._

"It's Blue Diamond." The Peridot Looked up at it in astonishment. I was more or less disgusted. "Wait, are the others here? AH, YES! THERE SHE IS!" The Peridot ran to another mural, this one of _….Yellow Diamond._

Steven ran up beside her and said "What is it?"

"Behold! Yellow Diamond!" Peridot pointed the light from her gem at Yellow Diamond's mural. _If I could throw up, this would be the time when I'd do it._ "Isn't she magnificent?"

"Wow." Steven said, admiring the mural. "These Diamonds are a huge deal, aren't they?"

"So you know about them?" The Peridot asked.

"Yeah, a little." Steven said before turning back to me and winking.

"So I won't have to explain why we live to serve them." She must have crosses the line, because after she said this Garnet walked up to her and gave her a look. "I mean, we were all made to serve them even though some of us don't anymore.

I growled angrily "I'M SICK OF THIS! Let's just get the coordinates!" I ran to the hidden stairs, got on my hands and knees, and made the motion needed for them to ascend into an actual stair case.

The gems walked to the stairs and began walking up them, with me at the very back of the group.

"This is so incredible! Only the most elite of elite can enter these sanctums. We are literally walking in the footsteps of the Diamonds." Hearing Peridot go on and on about the Diamonds made my skin crawl. I was about to lose it. Pearl must have noticed that too, so she let me on the same stair step as her and mouthed out the words

'Don't worry, we'll be out of here in no time'. That calmed me down a little.

"They must really like stairs." Steven commented as he bounced up the stairs. He suddenly stopped at a weird looking room with something in the Middle. "Hey, what's this room?"

Garnet kept on walking up the stairs "It's not what we're looking for." Everyone continued following her but Steven and I, who looked at the thing in the middle, then each other, before continuing up the stairs. We eventually made it to the top floor, with some sort of control desk in the middle, complete with an awesome view of the Earth.

The Peridot ran to the control desk instantly. "Oh. My. Goodness. This looks like it could be brand new. It's a relic by today's standards, but golly! It's so elegant, so simple, so perfect!"

"So, how do you turn it on?" Amethyst asked that question for all of us.

"…I have no idea." _Really!? The one thing you don't know how to-_

Suddenly, the desk started to glow, we all turned around to see Steven sitting on a chair that probably belonged to one of the Diamonds. He had his hand on one of the chair's arms, and that seemed to activate the desk.

"You can't sit there" The Peridot screamed.

"Why?" I said before hopping onto the chair myself and getting comfortable. "We're not 'good enough'?"

"That chair is for elite gems, you can't go around sitting where an elite would sit!" The Peridot's mini tantrum was funny to watch.

"I'm pretty sure that they wouldn't care." I jumped off of the chair, landed behind the Peridot, and whispered "I'm sure that you've always wanted to sit in one of those."

After hesitating for a bit, the Peridot walked up and sat on the chair. She started giggling like a little kid.

"Hey, what's this doo-dad for?" Steven said as he picked up a weird, diamond shaped thing.

"Hey! Put that back!" The Peridot scolded before getting to work. She moved the chair up to the desk. "Hm, this is a really old system. Gotta find the right isle… AHA! Cluster, cluster, where are you cluster… Aha, there's the insertion point, looks like the beta Kindergarten facet 9. It's the smaller of the two, not nearly as impressive as yours Amethyst." She looked at Amethyst, who just replied with an

"Uhh, thanks?"

"Where is the cluster now?" Pearl asked.

"UH, hang on." She found it in a couple of seconds. "There it is! It's embedded deep in the mantle. Relative to the barn it's roughly 2500 units down. All we need to do is feed this data to the drill, and we'll be all set."

"Finally! I've been waiting for this moment! Time to get out of here!" I said as I began walking back down the stairs. Thank goodness I left early, because I missed some real conflict. Or maybe I shouldn't have. Who cares?

 **BACK ON EARTH**

As soon as we made it back, I started celebrating. I was bouncing around, and started running everywhere as fast as possible. It might have been an overreaction, but I was just excited that we were not…there anymore. When I regained control of myself, I ran back to the barn, where I saw the Crystal Gems angrily staring at that Diamond. I finally remembered what it did.

"Hey, what are you guys doing with that communicator?" I said as I slid to a stop in front of them.

Before they could respond, a giant robot burst out of the barn and began running towards us. It's pilot? The Peridot.

"How did you escape!" Steven yelled at the Peridot.

"It was easy! Your invisible rotary shield was no match for me once I applied LOGIC!" The gems charged towards the Peridot's robot, who proceeded to throw a truck at them. "Now I'm gonna do this right!" They were all thrown back by its force of impact. Somehow, Pearl and Amethyst kept a hold of the communicator, but it was quickly snatched up by the robot and it began to run away. "See, none of you know what you're doing!" I giggled a little even though it was totally uncalled for.

"O-O-OKAY! I'VE BEEN READY FOR THIS!" Amethyst proceeded to morph into a helicopter "Get in."

"You guys fly, I'll run!" I took off after the robot without giving them any time to say otherwise.

Needless to say, I caught up to the Peridot easily. She was trying to activate the communicator. I ran in front of her and started running backwards. "You know that you're not going to be able to activate that with those metal claws, right?"

"Oh I will! Just watch me!" She continued to fiddle with the diamond, but had no success. Eventually, Air Amethyst caught up to us.

"How's it goin, PeriSNOT!?" Amethyst said before positioning her self at an angle which allowed Garnet and Pearl to attack.

"Good one Amethyst!" Steven said as Pearl threw her spear and Garnet shot her gauntlets at the robot, and it fell into a ditch because of it.

I walked up to the Peridot's robot, where she was trying to reach the communicator that lies outside of the cockpit. Before I could reach it, Pearl threw another spear at it, and it rolled a fair ways away. All of the gems landed in the Robot and began to beat it in. Maybe it was my fault for not being alert enough, but the Peridot was able to sneak out and grab the communicator. Luckily, Steven and I caught her at the exact same time. Steven grabbed her, while I tried to remove the communicator from her hands. It was harder than it sounds.

"I trusted you! I bonded with you, hoping and caring about you." While Steven was giving his speech, I was getting pelted with kick after kick from the Peridot. Then they fell over…on top of me.

"You don't get it either!" The Peridot started.

"Both of you are gonna get it if you don't get off of me!" I yelled out of the pain. _If only I had strength too…_ The 2 began jostling for the Diamond. I couldn't see or do anything because I was face down in the dirt with 2 people on me.

"Your emotions rule out reason! I'll do what has to be done." Suddenly, I heard the communicator get activated _No! Oh man Oh man OH MAN!_

Suddenly the 2 got up, and I sat up to see the Peridot laughing with the communicator in tow, "She'll sort this out." Steven, Amethyst, Pearl, and Garnet hid behind a rock, but there was not enough time for me to do anything, so I just sat and watched helplessly.

The communicator generated a screen and a pearl was on it. "This is the Yellow Diamond control room, who authorized this call?" She asked the Peridot.

"No-one, but it's an emergency!" The Peridot spoke nervously.

"That's no excuse to use the direct Diamond communication channel!" The Pearl scolded the Peridot.

"I'll show you an emergency you STUPID CLOD!" I tackled the Peridot, But before I could beat her senseless, I heard a familiar voice.

"I'll take it from here." Yellow Diamond took their communicator and pointed it towards her face, all of the Crystal Gems were shocked, but this was about the millionth time I saw her. I wasn't shocked in the slightest.

"My diamond! Peridot reporting in." Peridot said from her position under me on the ground.

"Which Peridot?" Yellow Diamond asked. _Imagine how terrible 2 would be…_

"F- Facet-2-F-5-L, Cut-5-X-G. I'm sorry to contact you this way, but all other forms of communication have been destroyed and" Yellow Diamond made a hand sign to get her to stop talking. I got up off of her and looked up into the sky as away from the communicator, hoping that something random would stop the call.

"This says you're behind schedule on your mission to... How is…Earth?" The Diamond turned towards us, I could feel it. Luckily I wasn't noticed…yet. _So far, so good._ "And who Is that beside you?" _I had to say something in my mind._

"Oh, her? She's nobody. Just-"

"No, don't even waste her time with lies." I turned towards the communicator and a shocked Yellow Diamond "You know who I am."

"Hmm, it's good to see that you didn't let her escape…yet." She shot me a look, I just rolled my eyes. "Now, what is Earth's status?" Just hearing her speak made me angry.

"It's…full of life." Peridot said that like she was scared of her. It was a little funny, but this was not the time for laughs.

"Organic life... and where is the Jasper I assigned you? And why aren't you calling from the ship?" The Peridot looked as if she was going to get eaten alive by Yellow Diamond.

"…The ship was destroyed." The Peridot said.

"By whom?" The tension and nervousness was palpable, even I was a little worried that the Peridot would sell us out. But luckily,

"I-It was destroyed by…. No-one. There was an accident…while we were landing." She didn't, I was about to blow a sigh of relief, but that would've been suspicious.

Yellow Diamond looked at the Peridot with disgust "I'll inform your manager of your incompetence" Yellow Diamond's Pearl appeared out of nowhere in the bottom left of the screen and made a 'You're so in trouble' face. I struggled to hold in a laugh. "What is the status of the Cluster?"

"The Cluster…will emerge shortly" The Peridot looked down after saying that.

"Good." Yellow Diamond looked back at something else "Now we can get some use out of that miserable planet."

"Yes, because killing billions of innocent people for one geo weapon is DEFINITELY ethical." I smirked and looked away from the communicator. Yellow Diamond didn't exactly like my comment.

"Don't for one second think that your off the hook miss. I'll deal with you when you return." Yellow Diamond's 'threat' meant nothing to me. I burst out laughing.

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen, your too INCOMPETENT to catch me! Especially with those idiots that you send after me." I continued to laugh. I probably shouldn't have done that, because Yellow Diamond was heated.

"Anyway, there will be a ship headed to your location to take you to your next assignment. Diamond will tag along with you."

"W-Wait!" The Peridot yelled out suddenly, "I-I wouldn't have called you just to waste your time with a stupid report"

"You already have" Yellow Diamond retorted.

"No, I mean... the reason I called... the real reason is... I believe we should terminate The Cluster." _Woah, I did not expect that._

"Why?" Yellow Diamond asked. I was 199% sure that she was going to be shot down. So I just got ready for it.

"The organic ecosystem creates resources unique to this world, we can't sacrifice all that potential just for one geo-weapon! I'd like to tell you some plans I came up with to utilize the planet without disrupting the local" The more she talked the more Yellow Diamond got frustrated.

"I've heard enough! I don't care about potential and resources!" Of course she got shot down. But to be honest, I would've done the same thing if she gave me the convoluted, Peridot answer.

"What?" _Peridot, I'm pretty sure you heard her._

"I want my Cluster, and I want that planet to die. Just make that happen." I balled up my fists when I heard her say that. _How could someone be willing to kill innocent people so easily?_

"…No!" The Peridot exclaimed. Yellow Diamond's Pearl gasped. I whooped and said

"Yeah! Stick it to the woman!" Yellow Diamond turned towards us.

"Are you questioning my authority?" Yellow Diamond asked.

"I'm... questioning your objectivity! My Diamond." Even I was shocked that the Peridot would go this far. Yellow Diamond's Pearl responded with a 'well' before being cut off by Yellow Diamond.

"You are out of line."

"I just-"

"I'm not interested in the puny thoughts of a Peridot-" Yellow Diamond was starting to make me angrier than I already was.

"But!"

"You have disrespected this channel and my time with your presence and you would do well to-"

"But"

"Shut your mouth!" I couldn't hold it in anymore.

"No! You shut your mouth you miserable, good for nothing CLOD!" I yelled at Yellow Diamond.

"I think someone has forgotten their PLACE!" Yellow Diamond responded.

"Wow, you think that just because you have that ugly yellow diamond on your chest, you suddenly become BETTER than everyone else?! You disgust me. Now I remember why I didn't want to be apart of the league, it's full or arrogant D-Bags like yourself!" Yellow Diamond looked really mad now, and I was loving it.

"Why are you sticking up for this FAILURE? Failure is unacceptable. Even someone as dense as YOU should know and understand that."

"I'm not sticking up for a failure," I sighed and looked away _It hurts me to say this, but…_ "I'm sticking up for my friend." The Peridot gasped, not expecting that out of me, I didn't expect that myself. I looked back towards the communicator "And if you think that you can MAKE us destroy this planet and millions of innocent people for ONE BIG, DUMB CLOD, you're even stupider than I thought!" I watched as Yellow Diamond's face become the embodiment of pure anger. She opened her mouth to respond, but before she could, I turned the communicator off. Everyone was silent.

After giving my self a few seconds, I simply walked out. While leaving, I threw the communicator to Steven and said

"You might want to get rid of that, it can be remotely detonated."

I took off and ran back to the barn. Once I got there, I sat jumped up and sat on what was left of the roof. Out of necessity, I cleared my mind by looking at the stars. I did this for a good thirty minutes, until-

"Diamond! This is where you've been." Steven showed up. "The gems have been looking all over for you." I looked down at him.

"I don't wanna talk right now Steven."

"You can't just bottle up anger like this." Steven commented on my methods for getting over anger.

"Then what do you want me to do Steven!?" Steven took a step away from me when I said that. "No, I- I didn't mean to raise my voice. I'm sorry."

"No, it's okay… I'll just leave." Steven began to walk away.

"No!" I grabbed his attention, but when I got it I simply looked downwards "Please…don't leave me." _Not like everyone else… Wait, what am I talking about?_

"Well, what do you want ME to do?" Steven asked.

"Just… come up here and watch the stars with me." I leapt down to the ground, grabbed Steven, and jumped right back on the roof.

"One thing that I have been thinking about," Steven looked up at the stars "Is why you're so…small. The Diamonds are huge, but you're short.

"Don't remind me." I sighed.

On the roof, we admired the stars' beauty while making some funny jokes. Eventually, my anger dissipated. However, Steven got extremely tired, so I had to carry him back home so that he could sleep.

 **Another time skip… Yay?**

"Man, where are they?" I was looking around for the Crystal Gems, who had disappeared without me knowing again. I checked both the Beach House and the Beach itself, but to little success. "That only leaves… The Barn! Duh." I ran to the barn at full speed. There I found Steven sleeping on a blanket with a pacing Peridot in front of him. It looked like she was mumbling something, but I chose to ignore that. "Yo, Peridot, have you noticed the tremors that have been happening lately?"

"I tried to tell them, I might have to pilot the drill by myself." The Peridot was rambling on and on.

"Peridot!" That shook her out of her trance and got her attention. Shocked, she turned towards me.

"Wuh? Oh, YOU." She continued pacing as if nothing happened.

"Hi Diamond, what a pleasure it is to see you. Hey Diamond, how are you doing." I emulated her voice almost perfectly… almost.

"Well, what could you possibly be here for other than to annoy me?"

"I just wanted to know where my FRIENDS are." I gave her an 'idiot face' and a DUH for being that lost.

"Wait, you were SERIOUS about that?" The Peridot looked at me with a mix of shock and skepticism in her features.

"Erm, yeah? I don't lie….anymore." I looked up into the sky and watched a rather large flock of birds fly over us.

"Well, I guess that I'm the one at fault here, my bad. As for the gems, they're at 'Skull island' fighting a Jasper and Lapis Lazuli fusion." _WHAT!?_

"They WHAT!?" My jaw dropped. _Why does nobody tell me when things go down? Seriously, it's getting annoying._

"Don't you have sound receptors? I said that-"

"I know, I know. I…just have to help them. Thanks for the info, buddy" I winked at the Peridot, who just sighed and rolled her eyes, before running to the nearest warp pad and warped to Skull island.

"EW! WHAT DID THAT THING DO TO ME!"

 **SKULL ISLAND. OH BOY.**

Things got off to a wonderful start. First, the warp pad didn't work correctly so instead of arriving at Skull island I arrived 40 feet ABOVE Skull island. Then, I got mad, and like a CLOD I destroyed the warp panel with one kick. _Where are they?_

 **BOOM!**

 _How convenient._

I ran to the beach, where the fight was taking place. It seemed to be a pretty even fight. What, with the combination of the little Watermelon people and the Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst fusion, we have a good chance of winning this. Wait a second, _Little Watermelon… People?_ I took cover in the thick over growth in a cliff that over looked the beach.

"Well, might as well end this fight early." I mumbled as I summoned my bow, took an arrow, and aimed at Malachite. But,

"Bwah!" Something got in my way. It was one of those watermelon people, and he looked like… Steven? _EHHH?_

"Little Watermelon Steven, you've got to get out of my way." I said but the Steven just ran in front of me and spread his arms.

"Why don't you want me to shoot her? We'd win." I looked at the Watermelon Steven, who pointed at me, then my bow, then Malachite, then fell on the ground as if he died. He thought that I'd kill them. _It would be good riddance anyways_ :/ "UGH! FINE I'LL JUST…watch." I sat down on the ground and became a spectator. The Watermelon Steven sat beside me.

The Watermelon People were able to distract Malachite long enough for the AGP fusion to wrap her up with a scaled up version of Amethyst's whip. Then, she pulled Malachite towards her, summoned a huge HAMMER, and tried to smack her into the stratosphere. But, Malachite summoned Jasper's battering ram of a headpiece to take most of the force of impact. She was able to take the hit and regain composure just seconds later.

"They're not going to emerge victorious at this rate." I heard a mysterious voice say. I looked all around me, but no-one was there. Just me and the Watermelon Steven. "C'mon Diamond, make the right decision, use me." _Man, who is that?_

"Wait, so you can hear me? That's great! You're finally recovering." I heard the same voice again, it was definitely feminine, but it wasn't like anything that I've heard before. _Um, yeah. Who are you?_

"I'm your bow" I looked over at the thing which sat to my right. For the first time I noticed a large, blue gem that was inside of it. _That has to be one of the STUPIDEST things that I've heard in a while. But you somehow made yourself a little believable, so I'll play along._

"You should, I am an extension of you. You must become one with your weapon to maximize your potential."

Meanwhile, Malachite was slowly gaining the upper hand, throwing a flurry of water punches at AGP.

 _What do you mean by… recovering?_

"You'll find out, in time. Just focus on improving instead of wasting time on the beach and you'll get answers." _That hurt._ "It was supposed to."

Malachite was able to encase AGP inside of an ice 'prison' of sorts. Every time it looked like she was about to escape, Malachite doubled the amount of ice. This happened until AGP was completely immobile.

"C'mon Diamond! We have to step in!" _How am I supposed to trust you after you got me In Trouble For shattering those gem mutants?!_ "Out of necessity, because if you don't, Amethyst, Garnet, and Pearl are dead. Earth is doomed as you Steven won't be able to protect Earth by yourselves. And, you'll probably end up captured by homeworld and taken to the League of Diamonds. Not even nightmares can accurately portray what they'll do to you. It's-" _FINE! I'll do it. GEEZ._

I stood up and picked up my bow. Much to the dismay of the Watermelon Steven. I ignored him though and took aim. _Become one with your weapon. Become one with your weapon._ "You do know that I can hear you right?" I blushed a little "Just relax and let me do the work. Just focus on your accuracy."

"HAHAHAHAHA! You WEAKLINGS are even more pathetic than I thought!" Malachite was boasting to AGP, who is as good as defeated at this point. "You outnumbered me, and I still defeated you! Now I'll give you something worse than death! Enjoy the bottom of the ocean! Hahaha!" Chains made of water started to surround AGP, threatening to pull her into the ocean's depths.

 _Steady, steady…_ I aimed for Malachite's weak spot, on her face where her gem was. Meanwhile, my body felt like it was losing a ton of energy by the second. Probably to the bow. _I hope that you're plan works._ "Don't worry about me, just take the shot." _….. NOW!_

I shot my arrow. Everything seemed to slow down as it pierced the air with such grace. Malachite noticed my arrow at the last second, but at that point it was too late. The arrow hit her right on target, destroying Malachite by separating Lapis Lazuli and Jasper. _Bullseye_ AGP was released from her ice prison and promptly caught the two. I was about to go crazy with excitement, then, I completely ran out of gas. I fell to my knees and…

 **?**

I opened my eyes to an empty room. Well, almost empty.

"What are you doing here?" A sapphire sat on a chair in the middle of the empty room. She was almost exactly like all of the others that I've seen: Long hair, dress, slight figure. But there was something different about her. I didn't know what that was though. "Well, just take a seat." A chair appeared out of nowhere in front of me. I took a seat.

"Are you going to tell me something about yourself? Or am I going to have to find out myself?" I crossed my arms.

The Sapphire laughed for a bit "Well, I'm the gem that's in your bow. That's a good start. But I guess you want more, don't you?" _What do you think?_ "Fine, fine, you don't have to mug me for it. Let's start with how we met…"

 **5 years ago on a transport ship in Creo. (Sapphire's prospective)**

"Everyone look alive! That Diamond has been captured and is on her way here, make sure that this isn't the 10th time that she has eluded us!" I was working undercover for the Creoean resistance as an officer in the homeworld army. Diamond had a real knack for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but she always escaped. I don't think that she'll be able to slither out this time, as this ship was DESIGNED to hold one prisoner and be almost inescapable.

"LET GO OF ME YOU DUMB BRUTES!" Diamond was being escorted to her holding cell by 5 Amethysts. That's how much it took to keep her at bay. She wildly flailed her body around, trying to shake free, but she couldn't overpower 5 Amethysts at once. I began following them to the holding cell from a safe distance. Once the six arrived, the Amethysts chucked Diamond into the cell and the force field activated.

"Have fun trying to escape." One of them said as they walked away. As they neared me in the hallway, I gave them stern looks. This made them not only line up single file, but straighten up their walks. It was hilarious.

Once the coast was clear, I closed in on the cell. Diamond sat in the very back of it with a face that was void of any emotion. When she noticed me standing on the other side of the force field, she jumped a little and said

"What'll it be this time?"

"What are you talking about?" I questioned.

"Usually, when I see one of YOU it means torture." She looked at me with disgust.

"Well, you're wrong this time **.** I'm a rebel operative working undercover. Need some help getting out? If we work together, success is almost guaranteed." Saying something and making it happen are two different things.

"Yes, please. I've already got a plan in place. This is gonna be easy." She said with a sly grin on her face. "First-"

She told me to get her back pack and bring it to the cell. With my high rank, that was easy. I just waltzed inside of the room that it was in, took the large, white thing as 'evidence' and went back to the cell.

"Now, what I need you to do is very simple." I reached inside of the bag and dug through the pile of trash to pull out a small box with 11 buttons: the numbers 0 through 9 and a red button on thee bottom of it.

"Is this what you wanted?" I showed her the box

She looked shocked for a second, then she looked rather unimpressed "Yea, I forgot that you guys can do that. Put in the code 0001 then hit that red button."

I followed her directions, and the moment I pressed the red button, the force field disappeared. Diamond walked out, snatched the device, and put her book bag on.

"You Know where the escape pods are on this thing are?" She asked.

"Yes, I had to memorize their locations."

"Good," She said while fiddling with the box "let's see if you've did your studying." She pressed the red button again. This time, it shut down the entire ship. "We've got to get moving. We have about 5 minutes before the power core fully resets."

"Okay then, c'mon." I took her hand and ran to the escape pods on the other side of the ship. It took me about 3 minutes to do so because I took the longest path possible… the path with 0 resistance. The room with the ship's escape pods was guarded by 3 Amethysts, all 3 of which were a part of the group that threw Diamond in the holding cell. I stopped right before we reached the hallway of which the room was a part of and explained our situation. "Alright, there are 3 Amethysts guarding our way out. How should we handle th-"

"I've got it." I stayed behind so that nobody could see me and just listened in.

"Huh? How did you escape!?" **SMACK** "AAAAA!"

"You're still outnumbered, two beats-" **POPOPOPOPOPOPOPOPOP** "….One..." **Thud**

"Okay, I surrender, just don't hurt me please."

"Leave… NOW!" I finally heard Diamond speak. "Alright the coast is clear." I ran up to the Escape pod room, ignoring the two lifeless bodies and used my clearance to enter it. "We've made it…. C'mon we only have a minute." We took one of the pods, fired it up and flew out of there. Just in time too.

 **Back in the Random empty room… (And also back to Diamond)**

"I was so cool back then! Do you have any more stories about you and I?" I grinned at the possibilities. _I NEED to know more about myself._

"I wish that I could tell you more," She sighed "but I think that our time here is up."

 _Oh crap! I totally forgot._ "Wait, how long have I been out of it? Do you know?"

"About…15 seconds." _WHAT!?_ "Yeah, when we're both here time moves extremely slow. It's… complicated." Shortly after she said that, everything started to fade to black.

"Are we ever going to see each other again?"

"Of course, gems can live for thousands of years. I doubt that we'll never see each other."

 **Back on Skull island**

"Bweeeh!" The Watermelon Steven… thing was shaking me, yelling in my ear, basically trying anything to wake me up. And it worked.

"Okay, okay, I'm back. What did I miss?" That… thing pointed towards the beach, where the gems were looking for me. _Sapph, Sapph!... Darn it._

"Diamond!? Diamond where are you?"

"Yo! D! Where'd you go running off to?"

"Guys, guys I'm right here!" I jumped off of the cliff and effortlessly landed on the beach below. I was promptly surrounded by the Crystal Gems and the Watermelon People… who all look like Steven… _=_=_

"Thanks for saving us Diamond. We would've lost without your help." Garnet said.

"All in a day's work!" I said nonchalantly. Suddenly, the ground started to shake wildly. _The Cluster_ "Wait, who's going to take care of the Cluster!?"

"The only two people that are close enough to the drill are Steven and Peridot" Pearl looked to the sky "We have to put our faith in them."

"Oh." I looked down at the sand and kicked some of it up. I wanted to be the one who drove the drill, but that was out of the question. "What are we gonna do about Lapis and Jasper?"

"Well, we just lost Jasper," Garnet said while looking to a random crevice that I didn't notice until then. "I don't know what we'll do to Lapis yet."

"Well, I guess that we're all done here. Now to find a way back…." I said, remembering that I broke the warp pad. _:/_

 **ONE OVERLY COMPLICATED JOURNEY THAT SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN LATER**

After we found the 2nd nearest warp pad and used it to warp back to the barn we were greeted by an excited Steven "Guys, Guys! Your back! Is Lapis okay?" He said. _Who cares?_

"She'll be fine." Garnet replied.

"You guys look happy! Did you destroy the cluster?" Pearl said. I could feel nervousness all around me. I, admittedly, was a little scared too.

"No, I talked to it"

"What?" Pearl and I said in unison.

"It doesn't wanna destroy the Earth. It just wants company. And it's got it now. It's like a bajillion people! They'll have lots of time to get to know each other, now that they're in a bubble." Steven looked at us with a wide grin on his face, but the only facial expression that I had available to me was 'wtf hax?'. So I used it.

"Um, how did you.." I stopped myself "Never mind. We're not dead! Earth is saved! Yes!" I ran into the barn.


	7. Chapter 7

**The next day...**

Training, training, training. I took Sapphire's advice and started training. I ran at full speed for hours on end, I practiced firing arrows accurately while on the move, and I tried to become stronger by lifting up and punching large boulders with my gauntlets. I did all of this back to back, with no rest in between. Needless to say, I almost killed myself, and I had to retreat to my gem to regenerate. So, I went to the barn, ignored Lapis, Peridot, and Steven, who were conversing, sat on a bale of hay, and went back into my gem.

 **16 Years Ago on Creo again..**

While our 'teacher' was still informing the superiors about me being a diamond, a random Ruby walked up to me and quietly said

"Hey, me and some friends are about to try and escape this place. Are you in?"

"Um, why would you want to escape? I see no reason to." I looked at the Ruby, who balled up her right fist.

"Because I don't want to be somebody's grunt. You don't want to be what the higher ups tell you to be, don't you?"

"Um… I really don't know." I looked down. I really didn't know ANYTHING about myself. How was I supposed to know what was the right decision?

"Fine, be that way. Just know that you chose Homeworld over Freedom." _What? What is she talking about? What does Homeworld do that restricts freedom?_ She walked over to a small group of gems in the back of the room.

Even though I was tempted by the prospect of freedom (even though I didn't know what this 'freedom' was, and why I needed to break away from Homeworld to get it), I passed on the opportunity. I was scared of what unknowns lied outside the walls of this place, and my supervisors only talked negatively about the environment and the gems that lived in it.

My 'teacher' came back and walked to me, "Follow me, my Diamond." She led me to a door that she opened using her clearance. We started walking down a long hallway. "Yellow Diamond has ordered for you to be taken to her so that you can be introduced to the universe. You're lucky, not many get to directly converse with someone as great as Yellow Diamond."

"Lucky?" _What's so special about me? About her?_

"I mean," She got a little nervous "Someone as great as you SHOULD be able to speak with Yellow Diamond." She laughed nervously. _What is she talking about?_

She led me to a landing pad of some sort, where a space ship waited for me. "Please board the ship, my Diamond. You will be at Homeworld before you know it." A large door opened, and I walked into the ship.

The only other gems that were on the ship were 5 Rubies who were piloting the ship. I sat down in the only available seat that was in the middle of the vessel.

"Alright my Diamond" One of the Rubies said "The ship will take off in five, four, three, two"

 **WHOOP! WHOOP!** "Attention! The base is under attack. I repeat, the base is under attack. Everyone must assume their battle stations with their respective squads."

"Let's just get out here before things get crazy." One of them said before the ship took off, ignoring the obvious danger of taking off through such conditions. It looked as though we were going to make it out scot free, but it just wasn't meant to be.

 **BANG**

The ship was hit by a missile of some sort. We began plummeting back towards the ground. With nothing to do and nowhere to run, I just braced myself.

 **1 CRASH LATER**

I groaned as I struggled to get a huge chunk of metal off of my body. I was lucky to even be alive, and I knew that. Still, now wasn't the time to be celebrating. If the gems that shot the ship down come to see if anyone survived, I'm finished. I dug deep and was able to generate the strength needed to throw the stuff to the side, but when I sat up, I wasn't in a better situation than before.

"Move and I'll shatter you." I heard an unfamiliar voice say as something cold and hard was pressed against my back. "See, I told you that SOMEONE would survive, there's always a tough one."

"Whatever Alexis, just blind fold her." I heard another person speak. A black cloth was promptly wrapped around my head, covering my eyes, and my hands were tied behind my back.

"I'm sorry that I've gotta do this…but."

 **POP**

I was hit by a blunt weapon that knocked me out.

 **?**

 _Ugh, where am I?_ I slowly came back to life sometime later. My eyes were still blindfold and my hands were still tied. I was sitting up in a chair of some sort.

"What do you think's going to happen to her" 'Alexis' said.

"I don't know, what I want to know is when she'll get here. This is so BORING." That other gem from before was here too. I tried to stay calm, but when you don't know where you are, who you're with, and what they're planning on doing to you, it's almost impossible.

"Oh, you're up." Alexis spoke nervously "I'm, uh, sorry for doing that to you. Orders are orders, you know?"

"Why are you apologizing? If she had one of us in the same situation, we'd be dead." Her friend scolded.

"No, it's okay. I understand." I finally spoke. Whenever you disobeyed one of the higher ups at the 'school' you usually get punished severely. I could understand not wanting to go through that.

"My Name's Alexis, and the other gem in here goes by"

"Grade-A Bad A-"

"Gina, don't listen to her, she's got a big ego."

"Hey! I'll show you a big ego!" The two were dead silent for a few seconds before bursting out with laughter.

"Anyways," Alexis started "You go by the name Diamond, am I correct?"

"Yeah, I guess." I said.

"What do you mean 'I guess'?" Gina questioned.

"Well, I just figured out that people like me are important, but I don't know why. I barely know anything about myself." I frowned a little.

"So, you're new to this? How old are you?" Alexis asked.

"Precisely 32 Day-Night cycles."

"Alexis! Gina! Are you two in there!?" I heard a new voice.

"Yea!" The two said in unison.

"Alright, you two can come out now!"

"Bye Diamond, hopefully next time we meet you can see my face." Alexis said.

"Let's not go overboard, I don't even know if there's going to BE a next time." That sentence from Gina scared me a little.

"I mean, She seemed like a nice person." I heard the shutting of a door. After about 30 seconds, the door opened again and I heard someone enter the room. I was terrified. _Who is this? What's she gonna do to me?_

"Relax, I already know that you have no intel that we want." I felt the thing that held my wrists together getting cut, freeing my wrists. The blindfold was also removed, revealing a tall, lanky Pearl wearing a white combat vest, a black undershirt, white boots, and Black pants. "My name's Pearl. Let's get out of here." I looked around at the room that I was in, it was simply an empty building with a chair in the middle.

She led me outside, where a motorbike was sitting in the sun waiting for us. Pearl got on it, and gestured for me to hop on as well. Seeing no other option, I complied. We were quiet for about half of the trip, then I broke the silence.

"Why?"

"Why, what?" Pearl was a little confused.

"Why haven't you shattered me yet? There's no reason to keep me alive since I have nothing that can help you." I looked at the trees that flew by us as she drove.

Pearl laughed a little "I have many reasons why I shouldn't shatter you. For starters, you're technically a new gem, so your opinions are still…malleable. If you catch my drift. For instance, I bet you didn't know that most Homeworld gems receive heavy 'conditioning' before being assigned to missions. That's just sweet talk for brainwashing."

"Brainwashing? What are you talking about?"

"You know that learning center that you were at?" I nodded "It's only purposes are to prepare you for the job that THEY want you to have, and to make you think what THEY want you to think. Has someone has acted…odd around you before? Like calling you 'my Diamond" or kissing up to you."

"Yes." _Almost everyone that knew who I was_

"Brainwashing. Reason number two, the prophesy. Have you heard it before?"

"Yes, and I think it's ridiculous." _Why do people put so much faith in me?_

"Why? Technically, you're our only hope. We aren't going to be able to win without you. Put some faith in yourself. Confidence and determination are the keys to success." She looked back at me for a second before focusing on the road again.

"Who said that I was even joining you guys? I'm my own gem. I can do what I want."

"I did" Pearl giggled. "You can side with either, A: Tyrannical rulers that control every aspect of each of their gems' lives, destroy planets for weapons and resources, which is what they plan on doing with Creo by the way. Cover up all of their mistakes and make themselves look like gods in the eyes of their people. Or B: gems who just want to escape all of that and live how they want, where they want, with who they want. All on this beautiful planet."

"Well, you make it seem like a no brainer. But why would I join your side if there's nothing for me to gain?" I looked up at the clouds in the sky. Joining them will only make things harder.

"Sometimes you have to think about others." Pearl's got serious all of a sudden. "Not everybody is a Diamond like yourself and can do pretty much whatever they want. For some of us, it's win, or be killed instead. If you want to be selfish and side with them that's your decision. I can't do anything about it. Just know that you've let millions of gems down."

Both of us were quiet the rest of the way to our destination. After about 20 minutes of riding, we reached said destination. A large city that was protected by a 30 foot wall that surrounded it. We skidded to a stop right in front of one of the wall's gates.

Pearl looked back at me "They won't let you in if you aren't with the cause. What's it gonna be?"

I groaned "Just get us inside…"

She grinned "I knew that you'd make the right choice."

 **Back on the Barn 16 Years later.**

After letting my body fully regenerate, I emerged from my gem. I had mixed feelings about what I just relived, but I don't like to dwell on the past. I just pushed it to the back of my mind.

"AAAAAA! They're here! AA!" I heard Peridot screaming like a maniac in the distance. I hopped off of the hay and began to walk outside to see what was going on, but there was no need, Steven, Lapis and Peridot came to me.

"What's going on?" I looked at Peridot, who was losing it.

"A Roaming Eye, they sent a Roaming Eye! I told you, I'm public enemy number one!" Seeing Peridot like this was hilarious, but I kept a straight face.

"Don't you think that, out of everyone here, I'D be public enemy number one?" I smirked. _I like the way that that sounds._

"She does have a point" Steven said. Suddenly, the Roaming Eye began scanning the roof. Everyone was completely quiet, even Peridot, who struggled to keep her mouth shut. Eventually, the Roaming Eye went away. Everyone except me breathed a sigh of relief.

I pointed at the GIANT HOLE IN THE WALL "You guys do realize that THAT exists, right? Homeworld gems are stupid, but they have IQ levels above potato." Confirming my suspicions, the Roaming Eye peered in the hole and saw us. Steven, Peridot, and Lapis ran out of the barn. I casually walked behind them.

The Roaming Eye cut off the trio and began scanning them. I walked into the light just for the heck of it. It must have found it's target, because its scanner turned red, it closed in on us.

Peridot ran behind Steven and hugged his arm "This is it, Steven! They're going to wipe my precious grin off the face of this planet!"

"Stay behind me! I'll protect you!" Steven got ready to do some shielding.

I walked up to Steven "Alright, here's the plan. First we" Lapis walked up in front us, looked at the Peridot, then proceeded to smack down the Roaming Eye with a water fist that she summoned… _..0.0…._ "…Destroy them within seconds! Way to go team!"

"Steven!" _Enter the Crystal Gems! Took you long enough._ "Are you alright!?" Pearl asked.

"Holy smokes." Amethyst looked at the wrecked vessel with wide eyes.

"Are you alright? We saw the ship and came as fast as we could." Pearl looked at Steven with concern.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Steven started "Lapis saved us.. but, it looks like Homeworld really has it out for Diamond and Peridot." I grinned and looked into the sky. _It's going to take a LOT more to stop me._

"Hey Peridot." I heard Lapis Lazuli speak "Are you okay?" The only audible reply that I heard was a weird laugh from Peridot. I guess that means yes. _I'm okay too guys…._

The door to the Roaming Eye suddenly opened. Everyone gasped as the dramatic reveal of who was piloting it was about to happen. What ended up climbing out of it? A Ruby. I was about to laugh harder than I ever had, but Garnet snatched Steven and I, and took us to the Barn to hide.

Out came another Ruby

And another

And another

And one more for good measure.

The last Ruby to leave the ship, who was probably the leader began talking "Now, where's the Gem the scanners locked on to?" She looked around "Let's fan out and search the area!"

Steven peered out of the barn door "Wow, look at em all."

Peridot planted her hands on Steven and peered out as well "I knew it, they're after me! It's the end of the line." _How can someone be scared of a bunch of Rubies?_

"You really weren't kidding." Lapis said. Everyone seemed concerned about this development except me.

"I disobeyed a direct order from Yellow Diamond, and I called her a clod... to her face." _Wow, what a rebel._

"Not only have I said worse things to her, but you've called EVERYONE in this barn a clod at least once." I chimed in.

"Yes, but not everyone has command over all the armies of Homeworld waiting for the word to shatter me!" Peridot hid under a box. _Honestly, these guys are child's play. I don't know why she's so scared._

Steven walked to the box and picked it up. "Peridot, we won't let them get you."

"But haven't I caused you enough trouble already?"

Garnet walked up to Steven and Peridot "Don't worry, Peridot. It's our sworn duty to protect anything that calls this planet home. And that includes clods like you." _YEAH! WE'RE SONIC HE- oh wait._ She turned towards the rest of us "Listen up, everyone. I have a plan. Or should I say…We have a plan?" She put her hands up in the air and unfused into Sapphire and Ruby.

"Hello everyone." Sapphire said. Amethyst, Pearl and Steven were excited about their 'return'. The rest of us, however, were uninterested.

"Well, what's the plan?" I asked.

The plan seemed simple: Hang Ruby out to dry. That wasn't the specific plan, but it was so close to that that I didn't know that it wasn't the plan. Ruby went out, tried to keep the other Rubies from checking the barn, failed (honestly, I had no faith in her from the start), and actually made them WANT to search the Barn. The leader of the Rubies did state that they were "here to retrieve the leader of the Earth mission!" _So they aren't looking for me…yay?_

After the that failure and a short pep talk, she went back out there this time with Steven. They were able to get them to leave, but only if we'd play and win a game of

"Baseball!?" Amethyst, Pearl, Peridot, and I said at the same time. Ruby face palmed, I giggled.

"I... saw that this was a possibility, though I am surprised that this is the path we're taking." Sapphire commented.

"Aw man, this is going to be SWEET." I grinned. _My life is looking more and more like a movie every day…_

Steven blew on a whistle "Alright. My human baseball knowledge will lead us to victory. Let's just go out there and pretend to be humans. Except Peridot. You stay here in the barn and hide."

"O…Kay" Peridot was okay with that. As long as they didn't catch her I suppose.

"Everybody in?" Steven looked at Lapis "Lapis?"

She chuckled a little "This plan sucks."

"Wait a second, we'd have one more player than them if everyone plays." I thought about it for a second "Alright, who's NOT playing?"

"Everybody's playing," Steven said "You'll just be our sub." _Why did I even bother?_

 **Outside. Let's get ready to play ball! (or ride the bench)**

"We're the humans! Steven!" _As himself_

 _Pearl as:_ "Earl!"

 _Amethyst as:_ "Amy!"

 _Lapis Lazuli as:_ "Bob."

 _Yours truly as:_ "Diana. You know, I still don't get why-"

 _Sapphire as:_ "Sophie."

"Understood. Our team is the Rubies! Consisting of... Ruby!"

"Ruby"

"Ruby"

"Ruby"

"And Ruby"

"Here's the rules of the game. We take turns throwing the ball at each other. The batter tries to hit the ball with the bat, and then they run around the bases. Whoever gets the most runs wins." Although Steven did a good job of explaining the rules of Baseball, I already knew how to play. MLB The Show baby.

Sadly, as soon as the game started I lost interest entirely. Baseball is fun to play, but watching it is another story. I probably spent about an hour daydreaming and looking at the clouds.. Until

"Diane, Diane get up." Steven shook my lifeless body, which was on the ground.

"What Steven? Can't you see that I'm riding the bench in style?"

"Diane, get up, you're in." Those words shook me up. I quickly stood up.

"The game isn't over?" I asked. I spent an hour doing nothing. Surely the game must've been over by now.

"No, but it's the bottom of the 9th and we need to score at least 1 run to tie. So you're pinch hitting for Sapphire." _EH!?_

"So, you're just going to put me in at the very last second in the biggest moment of the game with no prep time?" I laughed at how stupid that sounded (and was).

"Pretty much."

I chuckled "Alright let's go."

 **At Bat.**

I got into my batting stance and stared down the ruby who was pitching. We had Lapis on second base, so technically we didn't need a home run. But who doesn't want to hit a home run? After a few seconds, she wound up and threw the first pitch. Since I had no prep time and it was the first time that I actually swing a bat, I missed…horribly. _Great…_

"Strike one!" Our Ruby threw the ball back to their Ruby, one who was wearing some cool shades. She had a smug grin on her face. _OH, she thinks that this is gonna be easy huh?_ I took my baseball cap and turned it around. Why? Because it looked cool.

She threw the second pitch. Exactly the same as before, but with a little more heat on it. I wasn't ready for that one, and missed again.

"Strike two! This is going to be the easiest strike out ever." That sentence made something click inside of me. _No way I'm going to be outplayed by a dumb Ruby._

"Relax Diamond, you can do this." Ruby whispered.

"I know." I said nonchalantly.

Ruby wound up again before throwing a real fastball. _Why weren't all of the pitches like this?_ Using all of my strength, I swung at the ball.

 **CRACK!**

This time I hit the ball, and blasted it into the stratosphere with relative ease. I tossed the bat back and winked at the Ruby who was pitching. She looked as if she was going to explode.

Everyone got really excited. Sapphire ran around the bases while Lapis casually walked to home plate.

"Yeah!" Steven yelled.

I quietly walked back to the Barn, where I changed back into my normal clothes.

"Did we win?" Peridot asked nervously from her hiding spot.

"Of course. We were going up against Homeworld Rubies. Put some faith in us." I grinned.

"Yeah, I guess I underestimated you guys."

"That's IT! Rubies…..COMBINE!" I heard one of the Rubies say. Peridot and I looked at each other with wide eyes before running to the Barn door. The Rubies had combined to make a quintuple fusion. "RAAAH!"

"Wait!" Peridot ran out of the barn "Oooh, wait! Stop! Don't hurt them!" She fell twice before actually making it to the rest of the gems. "Wait. Oh, please, please! It's me you're after right? I'm not gonna stand by and let my friends fight my battles!" I ran up to the group as well.

"Aw, Peri loves us." Steven said. _No, that would be weird._

"Are you the Peridot assigned to the failed Earth mission?" The Ruby fusion questioned.

"Not sure if "failed" would be the right word to"

"Where is Jasper?"

I was a little shocked, but I remembered who probably gave them the order "They weren't even looking for Peridot. We played that baseball game for nothing!"

"Wait, but I'm the one who betrayed the mission, who called Yellow Diamond a clod, the new leader of the Crystal Gems?" Peridot sounded flustered. _Wait, did she say leader of the Crystal Gems?_

"What?" Pearl and I were on the same page.

The Fusion got up in our faces "Tell us where Jasper is NOW!" _I hope that she isn't trying to be threatening._

"Jasper-umm, we know where Jasper is." Peridot looked at Pearl who shook her head. _No we don't._

"Well!?" _C'mon, let's just fight her already._

"Uh…."

"Neptune! She's on the planet Neptune!" Steven stepped in.

Everyone was silent for a few seconds. Normally, I would say something like 'Leave the lying to me', but these are Rubies that we're talking about.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" And they never cease to amaze. They unfused. I was on the verge of laughing, but I held it in. The only things that escaped me were a couple quiet giggles.

"We all here? One, two, three, four, and...ha!" The leader of the Rubies pointed at herself "Five. To the planet Neptune!"

"Let's move out, soldiers!" They started going to the Roaming Eye one by one.

"What a lovely-sounding planet."

"But we just got here." One of the Rubies was being stubborn, their leader grabbed her and ran to their ship.

"Let's go, newbie!"

Only one Ruby was left. She looked like she was struggling a little then strained out the words "Thank you." Before running back to the Roaming Eye.

The ship took off and left Earth.

"Rubies are so dumb it's embarrassing." I laughed.

"Not all of them" Garnet said.

I continued training for the next few days, but to keep myself from wearing out again, I took days off at the arcade. Every other day, I'd ask Steven for some change to use there. When you're so good at arcade games that you can make 4 quarters last for almost an entire day on certain machines, you don't need much money. I was currently playing this game called The Fast and The Furious, and I was doing pretty good. It's a racing game, so it took me a couple of races to get the hang of driving. But when I did, I was unbeatable. The game also gave out free plays whenever you win a race. I essentially had unlimited credits. I was in the middle of my 25th race, when

"Hey Diamond?" Steven came out of nowhere.

"Yo. What's going on Steven?" I said while concentrating on the race.

"Amethyst, Peridot and I are about to go somewhere to hang out. Do you wanna come too?"

"Where is this 'somewhere'?" I shifted up and hit the NOS, which propelled me to 1st.

"It's a surprise. You'll only know if you come along." I looked at Steven, who was grinning.

"Fine, I'm in." I got up out of, the chair, not even bothering to finish the race.

We walked outside of the Arcade, where Amethyst and Peridot were waiting for us. Peridot had a weird…thing strapped to her forearm.

"What's that and why is it strapped to your forearm?" I pointed at the weird rectangle.

"That's a tablet." Steven said. _What's a tablet though?_

"It's the humans' version of a finger screen" _Oh._ Peridot showed it off "Do you like what I did to it?" She was obviously talking about the stuff that connected the tablet to her forearm.

"Erm… it's very…craftily made." _Those things look like they came straight off of tennis shoes._

"Alright guys, let's go!" Steven started walking, and we followed him.

 **At our destination…**

We arrived at a large sign that read 'Beach City Funland'

"Ta-da! Welcome to Funland!" Steven said cheerfully.

"Um… What's a Funland?" I said as I looked at the sign.

"You'll see." Steven grinned.

Steven and Amethyst led Peridot and I inside of Funland, where we saw a weird contraption with people on it roll down a slope. _Kind of like_

"A speed pattern transportation circuit." Peridot and I said in unison.

"Or a rollercoaster" Steven said. _That's what they call it._

"You've gotta do the most fun thing at Funland first." Amethyst suggested.

"Hmm. Bold. Let's follow this logic!" Peridot put her fist up in the air.

"I dunno if I want to do this." I said as I noticed how high that the rollercoaster went up to.

"Stop being a chicken." Amethyst grabbed my arm and took me to the ride's booth, where the same guy that ran the Arcade was waiting for us.

"Four please." Steven spoke to the man.

"Sure. We got some new rules, first." He pointed to a piece of cardboard that said 'You must be this tall to ride'.

First up was Steven. He was too short "Uh…"

Amethyst was too short also "Uck."

Peridot's hair helped her reach the height, but when the man pushed her hair down and discovered her real height. She lost it.

I walked up to the cardboard and I was just tall enough to ride. "Um,"

"Well miss, you can go" He said as he pushed me up the steps leading to the ride "It looks like the rest of your squad has to grow a little bit before they can ride." I looked back at my friends and mouthed out the words 'Save Me.'

I sat in the second row of the rollercoaster next to a random girl. I paid her no mind however, I was too busy freaking out.

The man's voice played via a speaker "We will start the ride once every seat is filled." A metal bar dropped down on my lap. Shortly afterwards, Steven and Amethyst, who were both unnaturally tall, walked up and sat in the car in front of me.

"How the-" They both looked back at me.

"Sup" Amethyst grinned "Liking the upgrades?"

"I don't care about your upgrades." I put my hands on my heads on top of my head. "I just wanna get out of here!" The rollercoaster started moving forward, towards an upwards slope.

I felt someone touch my shoulder "Relax, nothing bad is going to happen." I looked to my left at the person I sat beside. She had a peaches and cream complexion, with brown hair and blue eyes. She was skinny, and a little taller than myself . She wore a black T-Shirt with skinny jeans. "The name's Caroline, what's yours?"

"D-Diamond. Like the rock." The rollercoaster started climbing upwards.

"Aw, Diamond is making friends." Steven commented.

"Shut it, you!" I growled.

"Do you know him?" Caroline asked.

"Yeah," I took my hands off of my head and put them in my lap. "He took me here, along with her and someone else."

"Yeah, Shorty Squad baby!" Amethyst exclaimed.

"You two don't look very short." Caroline looked at the overgrown children sitting in front of us. "Congrats Diamond, you survived stage one of the average rollercoaster. But the journey is only beginning!"

"What are you talking about?" I looked around and noticed that we were at the peak of the 1st hill… _Crap._

"AAAAA!"

"WOO HOO!"

The rollercoaster sped down the slope and made a sharp right turn. I gripped the metal bar and gritted my teeth.

"This is so fun!" Caroline yelled.

"What type of madman ENJOYS THIS!?" I closed my eyes for a second, then I reopened them only to see a vertical loop in our path of travel. _Aw, s***_

 **One traumatic experience later…**

"Well it was nice meeting you Diamond." Caroline looked as if the ride didn't affect her. I, on the other hand, was trembling. "I'm gonna go do some other stuff."

"Huh? Oh, Alright!"

"Diamond, you comin?!" Amethyst called.

"Yeah, wait for me!" I ran down the stairs after them.

I caught up to the two as they made it to Peridot.

"So good!" Amethyst was hyped after the ride.

"What next? What next?" Steven asked. _Nothing else like that. That's for sure._

"Yes! What next that doesn't have a height restriction?" Peridot clearly was not having fun. _I assure you that you missed NOTHING._

"Uh, there!" Amethyst pointed to a building that was called 'The House of Mirrors'.

 _Looks boring._ "Uh, you guys can go in there. I'll go and walk around a bit."

"Okay Diamond. Have fun!" Steven grinned.

After I escaped that situation, I walked around for a bit. The Carnival seemed like a cool place with all of the games and prizes….Even if the games are rigged and the prizes are insignificant.

"Hey, Diamond!" I was snapped out of my trance by Caroline, who gestured for me to come to her. She was standing in front of a booth with guns and targets.

"What's up?" I said as I reached her.

"Where are your friends?" She looked around.

"They're in that building with reflective glass." I pointed towards the house of mirrors.

"Oh, well do you want to play this with me?" She smirked.

"Eh, why not?" I said as I picked up one of the guns.

"Alright," She rang the bell, which made the Arcade guy go to the booth "We'll try the co-op mode." She gave the man two dollars, and he hit a button to start the game. I guess that she assumed that I knew what I was doing, but I just shot at the now moving targets with no knowledge of any special rules.

Luckily, there were no special rules, and my time crisis experience translated nicely to this new game. After 180 seconds of machine like accuracy, a bell rung and the targets stopped moving, signaling that our time was up. The man working the booth uninterestedly looked at our score, then freaked out when he realized how high it was.

"1 MILLION!? That might be a world record." Another bell rung in the distance "Just take two things." And he ran off. I looked at the prizes that were showcased. Toy guns, police officer play sets, cowboy hats, nothing that interested me… Except the cowboy hats. Those looked awesome.

Caroline sprung for two black T-Shirts that were hidden behind other stuff. Both of them said 'One half of a dynamic duo' with crosshairs inside of the O's "Hey, let's get these."

"Sure." _No Cowboy hat for me T.T… oh wait, can't I just summon one? I'm an idiot sometimes._

"Great. Let's try them on." She grabbed my hand and took me inside of a restroom to change.

 **2 Minutes later…**

"That looks good on you." Caroline said as we looked at each other's outfit through a mirror in the bathroom.

"Likewise." I grinned.

 **NICO NICO NII! NICO NICO NII!** "Oh, someone's calling me." Caroline reached in her pocket and pulled out a smaller version of a tablet before putting it up to her left ear. "Hiya!...What!?...That's insane…I'll be right over." She put the phone away "Hey, I've gotta go. I'll see you around."

"OK." And exit Caroline. I walked out of the bathroom shortly after. I Started looking for my friends. It didn't take long, as I spotted the trio sitting on a bench. Steven and Amethyst were eating corn dogs while Peridot was messing with her tablet in between them. I walked up to them.

"What's wrong with shapeshifting bro?" Amethyst sounded a little frustrated. _Maybe I shouldn't have looked for them._

"You mean besides being an insult to your intended form?" Peridot said sarcastically. _So, How Long is it gonna take_ for _them to notice me?_

"... Okay, what's really wrong with it?" Amethyst shot Peridot a look.

"I can't do it... at all." _That's not a valid reason._

Steven smiled "Well, we can help you try."

Peridot turned towards Steven "What?"

"I didn't ever think I could use my powers, either, but then the Gems helped me out. We can help you, too."

"Yea man!" Amethyst pretty much inhaled her corndogs all at once. _…EW._ "Mmm! We'll give you the shapeshifting lowdown." She rubbed her knuckles on Peridot's forehead "Shorty Squad style."

Steven turned towards me and jumped a little "Diamond! Where have you been? Where did you get that shirt?" _UGH._

 **BEACH TRAINING….ON THE BEACH**

"Hey Diamond, wanna help us teach Peridot how to shapeshift?" Steven asked.

"Nope." I sat down on the sand and summoned a pair of sunglasses.

"Why?" He looked disappointed.

"I can't shapeshift. Can't teach someone something that you don't know."

"Well, do you want to learn how to?" Steven offered me a hand.

 _That's a waste of time_ "Nope, you go on without me. Thanks for asking though." I grinned.

After that I watched them try to 'teach' Peridot how to shapeshift. First, they tried a 'watch and learn' approach. Shapeshifting in front of Peridot, then letting her try to emulate. Steven and Amethyst elongated their tongues, with Amethyst even giving herself a high five with hers _…Gross…_ But of course, this FAILED.

Then they tried the same thing again (as if the first time was just a fluke). This time Amethyst turned into a cat while Steven only got his finger to become one…before freaking out and drowning it seconds after. Peridot, like myself, was becoming uninterested, and started playing with her tablet.

Attempt number 3 was a little interesting. Amethyst shapeshifted into a ball, and bounced to Steven, who shapeshifted to be able to catch her. Then threw her to Peridot. But just like every other attempt so far, it failed. Peridot got hit in the face by Amethyst, and I almost started laughing. Almost.

Then they tried something that was genuinely stupid "Uh, okay. Maybe we just have to activate it manually. You grab her feet. I'll grab the arms." Amethyst said.

"Guys, I hate to be rude, but that is one of the dumbest ideas that I have ever heard." I must've ruffled some feathers, because Amethyst wasn't too happy.

"Well, I don't see YOU doing anything."

"What's the point? Peridot can't shapeshift. Pulling her apart won't change anything." I said.

Peridot walked closer to the water and sat on the sand "That's a first, I've never agreed with you on anything"

"What are you talking about Peridot? You can shapeshift, we just need to-"

"No." Peridot cut Steven off "My lack of skill is an objective fact. I'm an Era-2 Peridot. I am new. Resources are dwindling on Homeworld. They can't make Gems like they used to. That's why they give Era-2 Peridots technological enhancements because we... don't have powers." _This feels way more sad than it should._

Amethyst walked up to Peridot "Per, I'mma be really real with you for a sec. This whole time we've been here, you've just been focusing on what you can't do. Of course you're not having any fun. You think that all you are is who you could be, but we don't hang out with you because of who you could be. We like you." About half way through that speech, Peridot acted as if she wasn't listening and started typing something on her tablet. "I know you just heard me." Peridot continued to type. "Stop playing with that thing. Ugh. Gimme that!" She grabbed Peridot's tablet. That got a reaction out of her. _Oh boy_

"NO!" The two started pulling at both ends of the tablet in an attempt to rip it from the other's grip.

"You don't need it!"

"You don't know that!"

Steven and I watched quietly as the two fought over the tablet.

"Yes…I…Do!" Amethyst, using her superior strength, took the tablet for herself and was about to throw it into the ocean.

"Wait! Wait-wait-wait-wai-w-w-w-wait!" Peridot tried to stop her, but it was no use. Amethyst chucked it. "NO! IT'S ALL THAT I AM!" The tablet literally stopped moving in mid air. _WHAT THE-_

"Peridot. Metal powers!" Steven got really excited, like he always does.

"….Dude" Amethyst looked at Peridot and smirked. I was speechless.

"Do you know what this means? You can open really tight jars. You can remove staples without a staple remover. You can open doors without having to touch them after you wash your hands." While Steven was talking about all of the possible 'uses' for her new ability, Peridot got the tablet to come back to her.

"No! I know exactly what I can do." _It's probably something stupid, like_

 **Later…**

"Really? A carnival game?" I said "I could've thought of some-"

"SHHH!" Steven and Amethyst looked at me and pointed at Peridot, who was using her powers to land 10 out of 10 rings in a game called 'Ring Some Lose Some'. _-_-_

"Ten! That's ten!" Peridot rung a bell, which woke the man who was working the booth.

"Wah! That's 10, alright! Well, I guess you won fair and square, or fair and triangle." He started laughing "Because your head looks like a triangle. Here you go, kid." He gave Peridot one of the stuffed… things that were on display.

Steven giggled a little "You did it, Peridot."

"Give it up for Pea-Pod!" Amethyst grinned.

"No, give it up for the Shorty Squad." Peridot said. _I want out of this._

 **The next day…**

Instead of continuing my training, I decided to change things up a bit by paying Lapis and Peridot a visit. _Why not?_

I could hear Peridot talk from outside "So, I think that we should move that big cylinder that's outside, inside. And then-"

"Howdy buckaroos." I walked inside and tipped my new black cowboy hat towards the two who were conversing in the middle of the barn.

"Oh, it's YOU." Peridot squinted her eyes at me.

I sighed "I thought that we were over this. Anyways, I see that you guys are planning a little 'home improvement'. Need some help?"

"Oh! uh… Sure. If Lapis is okay with it." Peridot looked to Lapis.

"I'm okay with it."

"Cool." I looked at that huge hole that was still in the barn. "I think that we should take care of THAT first."

"But we don't know how to do that sort of stuff." Lapis commented. _She's right…. AHA!_

I snapped my fingers "Maybe we don't have to do that! Peridot, I overheard you talking about moving that cylinder inside. Maybe we can use it in some way."

"Yeah, I was thinking about turning it into an extra room." She grinned at the possibilities.

"How about something else. Something cooler…." I snapped my fingers "Like an INDOOR AQUARIUM!"

"But how are we gonna do that?" Lapis said skeptically.

"I've got my methods" I smirked

 **MONTAGE TIME! (Not really)**

 **At Greg's car wash…**

"Poly methyl what?" Greg gave me a confused look. "I'm getting old, you're gonna have to slow it down a little."

"Poly methyl methacrylate. I was wondering if you could get some for me."

"Well, I don't know why you need it, or what it is, but I'll get some for you, just come on down tomorrow." He smiled at me.

"Thanks"

 **Tomorrow**

I pulled the large piece of acrylic glass out of Greg's van and laid it down in front of Lapis and Peridot. "We'll need to put this in the cylinder."

"Alright, let's get to work!" Peridot ran inside the barn to get something.

 **An hour later**

"You think that that's how it goes?" I said as the three of us looked at the new and improved cylinder, with an acrylic glass 'opening'.

"100 percent." Peridot replied. " Now let's get it inside of the barn!"

 **5 minutes later**

"Who thought that this was a good idea?" I groaned as I struggled to carry the huge thing to the barn with Lapis flying above and taking some of the load off my back.

"You." Peridot and Lapis said in unison. _Darn it._

 **Another 5 minutes later**

We looked at our masterpiece from outside of the barn. All of that work coming to fruition. "Yes! High five me Lapis." I grinned and held my hand up.

"What's a 'high five'" she looked down at me with that same dull expression that she always has.

"Just slap my hand already." **SMACK** "Ow…."

 **Later that day…**

Peridot, Lapis and I were resting in the barn… honestly I don't know why Peridot was resting as she didn't do anything, but whatever.

Out of nowhere, Peridot shot up "I know what we should do now!"

"What?" Lapis and I said dully.

"You know how they have music?" Lapis and I nodded "Why don't we make music, but for your EYES."

"That's actually a good idea." I smirked.

 **Back to the car wash**

"I think that you're talking about art." Instead of just walking up to Greg and asking for something like last time, I decided to help him out a bit by washing vehicles with him. Of course, it was ridiculously easy with my abilities, but it's the thought that counts.

"So how would I create this….art?" I said as I finished drying off the car that he was working on.

"Well, art can be anything." He thought about it for a second "I would just start by getting some painting stuff and painting what's on my mind. Let me guess, you want painting materials now." I nodded vigorously. "Well, I'll get some for ya."

 **The next day**

With my painting materials in hand, I got to work painting the wall in 'my part' of the barn (Since Lapis and Peridot decided that dividing it up was necessary). I, for lack of a better term, WASTED the next week or so of my life on that. Slowly, it evolved from some random lines here and there, to slightly recognizable objects, to a fully developed masterpiece. At least I spent all of that time on something halfway decent.

"Hey Diamond," Peridot walked into the barn as I inspected my work "I just wanted to let you know that-Oh. My. Stars. That's incredible!"

"Do you really think so?" I was a little embarrassed.

"Yeah, it just might be able to compete with MY masterpieces." _Whatever._

I took Greg's advice and ran with it, creating something that I (and apparently others) liked. The painting itself was pretty simple: It was me smiling while looking into the sky during a sunset, with various clouds in the background instead being mini paintings of my memories on Earth. From my arrival, to my introduction to the Crystal Gems, scolding Yellow Diamond via the communicator. Even that shock collar incident had its own cloud, but it was small, and you REALLY had to look for it. But there was one cloud that was emphasized the most in my painting by not only being the largest one by far, but also being the one that I was looking directly at. It was the one that contained Peridot, Lapis and I looking at that indoor aquarium after we installed it.

"So, what were you gonna tell me?" I asked, noticing that the once empty barn had been filled with various….things. _Tunnel vision taken to a whole other level…_

"I was just going to tell you that Lazuli has disappeared and I just can't seem to find her." She started looking around.

"Oh." I said. "She'll be back. Well, it was nice being here. Peace." I started to leave.

"Wait! There's something else that I wanted to tell you." I stopped dead in my tracks and turned around towards her.

"I'm listening."

"Well, Lapis and I have been….discussing some things. And we think that, since you helped us with the aquarium and all, that you should…stay here. With us." _Wait, wut?_

"I…um…yeah…uh…Sure! I'll do it!" And that settled it. I dug my own grave.

"That's great! I'll let Lapis know about it when she returns." _Oh boy._

With nothing else to do (Other than train, but I didn't want to do that), I went back to Steven's place to play some more video games. The second that I walked in, Pearl walked out of the door that was behind the warp pad.

"Diamond! I've been looking everywhere for you." She walked up to me.

"Oh, well, sorry for vanishing." I scratched the back of my head.

"I just want to let you know that you'll be going on a mission with Steven, Connie and I tomorrow" _Wait, that girl can fight?_ "Be here first thing tomorrow."

"Okay." I said before walking up the stairs and turning on Steven's T.V. and Video gaming system.

I started up MLB 17 The Show, but instead of playing a regular game like always, I decided to try out another mode. _Road to the show? Sounds interesting._ Little did I know that I'd

"Diamond, don't you think that you've been playing for a bit too long" completely forget about everything. I turned around and saw Steven in his pajamas lying down on the bed. "You've been playing all day."

"Huh!? When did you get here!? How long have I been playing?" I started looking around frantically. It was as if one second it was daytime and the next was night.

"Well, I don't know when you started playing, but it's 11 P.M. now." _11!?_

"Oh, well I've gotta go. Thanks for snapping me out of it" I turned off the console and the T.V. before starting to walk towards the stairs.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

I turned towards him "To the barn. I kinda…live there now."

He gasped "That's awesome! I'll try to pay you guys a visit soon."

"That's cool. Bye Steven."

"Bye. See you soon"

 **Back to the Barn**

When I made it to the barn, the first thing that I noticed was the TRUCK that sat awkwardly inside one of the barn's walls. They literally nailed it in, securing it and everything. The second thing that I noticed, was that Peridot and Lapis were watching T.V. on said truck.

"I'm not even gonna ask." I said.

"Oh, you're back." Peridot looked down at me "It took you long enough."

"Whatever. So, what are you guys watching?"

Peridot lit up "Only the greatest television series in EXISTENCE. It's a must watch."

"Oh really?" I smirked

"Even Lapis likes it. Isn't that right?" Peridot looked to Lazuli for confirmation.

"Yeah, it's okay." She said.

"Well, that's cool. I'll be inside if you need me." I started to walk inside.

"So, you're NOT going to ask to watch?" Peridot said.

"Nope. Well I was going to, but then I-AAAAH!" Out of nowhere, a hand made out of water grabbed me and lifted me up into the air. "PUT ME DOWN YOU-!" It promptly dropped me… on the truck bed in between Lapis and Peridot. I angrily stared at Lazuli.

Peridot started snickering "Well, look who's decided to join us. Let's continue watching." _I'm already starting to regret this…_

 **One painful night of Camp Pining Hearts later…**

"Now! Let the 3 legged race commence!"

 **POW!**

How could Peridot and Lapis like this show? Sure, they're technically Homeworld gems, but their standards had to be really low for this to be good to them. I had to keep myself from falling asleep, even though it doesn't happen naturally. I was looking for an excuse to get out of there for a while. Luckily, I had one.

"I've gotta go guys." I got up and jumped off of the truck.

"For what?" Peridot asked.

"A mission. I can't really skip it."

"Well, good luck on your mission." Peridot said before refocusing on the T.V.

 **At the Beach House**

"Let's just wait on her for a little bit longer" I heard Steven say from the house's deck.

"Alright, I'll give her five more minutes. But we really can't leave later than that." Pearl was in there too. _I'm late huh?_

I opened the front door and stepped inside, where Steven and Connie were sitting on the couch with Pearl pacing in front of them. What I immediately noticed was Steven and Connie's attire. They were dressed in extreme cold weather clothing. _Where are we going?_

"Diamond! Why didn't you tell me that you were coming with us?!" Steven grinned.

I turned around and closed the door behind me "I thought that you knew already."

"Hi Diamond." Connie waved in my direction.

"Hello there….Connie. It's Connie right?" I said, she nodded.

"We need to leave now." Pearl walked to the warp pad and the rest of us followed.

 **Somewhere REALLY cold….**

When we arrived at our destination, I was shocked by the beauty of the landscape. _This is beautiful. Just like Creo…_ I felt a lone tear streak down my face. I quickly wiped it off.

"We're here!" Pearl said excitedly.

"Wow! The Great North is so beautiful in person." Connie looked around from the warp pad.

"Wait, wait! Stay right there!" Steven ran a fair ways away and pulled out a cellphone. "Alright, smile!" Pearl, Connie and I looked at the phone and smiled.

 **Snap!**

Steven looked at his phone, then looked back at us "Okay, now one where it looks like you're looking for a monster." Connie and Pearl assumed 'searching poses', I just crossed my arms and looked to the sky.

 **Snap!**

"Okay, now one like you made a joke." Pearl looked as if she told the joke and Connie looked like she was laughing at said 'joke'. I acted as if I were muffling a laugh with my hand.

 **Snap** [JW1] **!**

"Okay, now do one where the joke's not that funny, but it's more like a joke that makes you... think."

"Okay, I think that's enough photography." Pearl saved me from the onslaught of pointless pictures.

"But it's Connie's first mission! Her parents asked me to take lots of pictures." Steven said.

"Uh," Pearl was hesitant about something.

"Thank you so much for letting me come on this mission, Pearl!" Connie bowed "It's such an honor to work alongside you."

"Well, Connie," Pearl started "your sword fighting skills have far exceeded my expectations. And, with my careful supervision, of course, I'm confident that you can handle a simple Gem recovery mission like this."

"Thank you so much! I promise I won't let you down, ma'am." Connie looked up at Pearl with determination in her eyes.

 **Snap!**

"Really Steven?" I gave him a look. He snickered.

 **Later…**

We were walking through the snow in a straight line. Pearl led the group, with Connie behind her, Steven behind Connie, and me in the back of the line. I guess that Pearl hoped that we'd just waltz into what we're looking for randomly.

"Hey, Pearl." I said as I peered over Steven and Connie at her.

"Hm?"

"What are we doing here? I mean, you never told me."

"Recap the mission for us, Connie." Pearl said.

Connie looked back at me "Garnet sensed some corrupted Gem activity in these woods. It is our job to locate it, destabilize its form, and bubble it."

Pearl looked back at the rest of our group "Very good. Now, your human bodies aren't designed to last in this cold, so we'll have to be extra careful."

"That's okay," Connie looked at the backpack that she was carrying "I've got this backpack filled with everything we need to survive in the wilderness."

"And I've got board games in case we get bored." _Only Steven._

"Ah yes, very good." Pearl said.

"So, how will we know if this corrupted Gem is nearby?" Connie asked.

 **GRRRR!**

Everyone but me gasped as we turned towards the source of the sound.

"Well, I've always thought that the monster growls are usually a good indicator." I said with zero energy or effort.

Suddenly, the monster burst through the trees that were directly in front of us. It was HUGE. Like one of those Yeti from the movies, but it was blue and pink with two large protrusions on its forehead. And it was missing eyes to boot.

 **ROOOOOAAAAAAR!**

"Man, your breath must reek." I casually summoned my bow.

Connie grabbed her sword and prepared to unsheathe it while Steven….took a picture.

 **Snap!** _Really!?_

"Remember, you work together!" Pearl commanded.

Steven summoned his shield "Ready Connie?"

"Ready, Steven!" Connie responded.

Out of nowhere came another corrupted gem that looks almost exactly like the first. But it was more of a dirt/rocky brown color, with a 3rd forehead protrusion.

"Two of them?!" Pearl took what I was about to say, and said it with way more enthusiasm.

The two things started communicating in their lingo, before one of them, the Rocky brown one, charged straight towards us.

"Steven, bubble!" Pearl shouted.

Steven promptly summoned his bubble shield "Bubble power!"

They were made fools of, however, as the gem jumped over us and the two went their separate ways.

Steven made the bubble disappear as he said "They... ran away?"

"I wouldn't want people to see me if I looked like that either." I commented.

Pearl sighed and started thinking about something "There weren't supposed to be two."

"Oh! Oh! I have an idea!" Connie piped up "We could split up! You and Diamond can go after one of them, and Steven and I will go after the other one."

"Man, I've seen enough horror movies to know how bad that would end. So I'm not with it." I said.

"I'm with Diamond" Pearl said "This might be too risky, even with your combat skills."

"We can handle ourselves." Steven started "Connie fought those gem experiments at the hospital."

"But-" Pearl started

"And look," Steven pulled out two walkie-talkies that looked like cats. "I brought these walkie-talkies so we can talk to each other in case something happens"

"But-"

Pearl was cut off again, this time by Connie, who pulled out a book titled 'HOW TO SURVIVE: The Punishment Of Nature. "I've read this book front to back at least 20 times!"

Pearl looked at them for a second, then sighed "Well, all right. But Diamond will go with you two. I don't need her as much as you two. Are you okay with that Diamond?" Pearl looked at me.

"It's 3 versus 1. I really don't have a choice." I said.

"Alright, as soon as you find the monster, contact me immediately. I don't want you fighting this thing alone. One more time, what are you looking for[JW2] ?"

"A monster." Steven Connie and I said.

"And what do you do when you find it?"

"Call you." The three of us responded again.

Then, Pearl got all smug on us "And who's your favorite Gem?"

Steven and I were on the same page, because he said "It's obviously Diamond."

"Eh, those two Corrupted Gems are way cooler in my opinion.." I responded. We couldn't keep a straight face for long after that though, as we started laughing shortly after.

"Whatever." Pearl giggled a bit too "You three be safe!"

"Yes Ma'am!" And we went our separate ways. _How long until this ends up being a bad idea._

We walked for a little bit, until Connie kneeled down beside one of the Corrupted Gem's footprints. "All we have to do is follow these tracks." I cringed as she took a handful of snow, and tasted it "Yeah. These are fresh. We trail it until it stops to rest."

"Wow, Connie, you're a wilderness expert." Steven said.

"Well, I like to be prepared. When civilization collapses and this world ends, I need to be ready to build the new one." I looked at Connie to see if she was joking, but she wasn't .

"Yeah, I guess if Homeworld invades Earth, things could get pretty crazy for humanity." Steven looked at me, probably expecting me to add to the conversation, but I just looked away. _I don't want to talk about them right now._

"Forget Gems, humans are already starting their own demise!" Connie continued "Peak oils, Steven! How do we handle terminal decline without alternate energy sources?!" Whenever I have nothing to add in a conversation, I keep my mouth shut. That's exactly what I was doing then.

The walkie-talkie made a 'bleep' noise, and Steven pulled it out of his pocket. It was Pearl "How are you two doing? Are you hungry? Remember, you humans need to eat!"

"Yes ma'am!" Steven and Connie said in unison.

"How's Diamond? I can't hear her. Is she okay?"

"Yeah, she's fine." Steven said.

"Luckily, I packed plenty of survival fuel." Connie pulled out two bars of food called 'Protes' "Time to get our protein on!"

After they are those…things we continued walking for a little bit. Steven and Connie walked beside each other, with me about 5 feet behind them.

"So these corrupted Gems are like wild animals. Just a bundle of fight-or-flight reflexes and survival instincts." Connie commented.

"Well," Steven started "they're like that now, but before they were different. They used to be normal Gems like Pearl, Amethyst, Garnet, and Diamond. They had thoughts, and feelings, friends..." We came across a fallen tree that Connie proceeded to investigate "I don't really know how the corruption works. It's like they're sick. They don't remember who they used to be... Maybe they don't even know how to look like themselves anymore." Steven looked more and more sad as he went on.

"Woah," Connie gave Steven a concerned look "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good." He said as he approached a downward snow slope "Oh, I know what'll cheer me up! Woo-hoo!" He fell face first on the snow, then rolled down the slope "WOAH-OH-OA-AAA-UH!"

Connie slid down using a board made out of wood, while I decided to jump down. Which was a bad decision. "AIEEE!"

 **PFFF**

I ended up about 3 feet deep in snow. Almost immediately, I started digging myself out. I was able to get my right arm out of the snow fairly quickly.

"Diamond! Can you hear me?" I heard Connie ask. I have her a thumb up. "We're gonna pull you out. Ready Steven?"

"Ready!" I felt two pairs of hands grasp my right arm.

"Alright, pull!" _owowowowowOwOwOWOWOWOW_

After a few seconds of pain and struggle, the two were able to pull me out of the snow. It happened rather suddenly, and I was flung up in the air. Of course, I still gracefully landed on my feet.

"Thanks." I said "Now let's get back to following those tracks."

"Right!" Steven and Connie said in unison.

We didn't get far (didn't get anywhere at all in fact) until we hit a 'roadblock' of sorts.

"Woah, look at the tracks." Steven said as he noticed it too. It was a complete mess: tracks in every direction, trees knocked over, and… _.Humanoid footprints?_

Connie looked around "Woah. Now this is a mess! Some of these prints look humanoid... Could Pearl have been here?"

"She went the other way" I said "How would she end up here?"

 **SNAP!** "Stevennnn."

Connie examined the tracks closely "Monster... Humanoid... Monster. What could this mean..?" I had already figured it out, or at least I thought that I did. But before I could say what my theory was, it started to snow. "We should probably take shelter from this blizzard. But first, let's grab some of these pine needles." She picked up a few "We can brew a vitamin C-rich tea with them, so we don't get scurvy!"

"Like a pirate!" _Oh, Steven_

We took cover inside of a hollowed out tree. Connie brewed that tea that she was talking about. _Someone else is here, but who?_

"The tea is ready! Here, try it." Connie gave Steven a small cup of the tea.

"Thanks!" He took a sip, then immediately regretted it. His face said it all.

"How is it?" Connie asked.

"It's…" He thought about how to word it. _The nicest way to say 'it's disgusting' is 'it's disgusting'._ "It's bad."

Connie scooted over to him "Well, yeah. It's not about tasting good, Steven. It's about surviving the punishment of nature." They both took a sip of it before making goofy faces. I couldn't contain my laughter.

 **Later, but not much later**

"So, why were there humanoid tracks out there?" Connie asked "They weren't ours, and they weren't Pearl's, it couldn't have been the monster unless it's just some guy in a monster suit but that kind of thing only happens in cartoons, usually over a property dispute."

"There's someone else out there." I said from the other side of our shelter.

"You think so?" Connie looked at me.

"Yes, just connect the dots." I started "Both humanoid and monster tracks in every direction, and wherever the scrambled up tracks were, destruction seemed to always be there too. Definite signs of conflict. Also, why did they suddenly decide to split up and run away when we first encountered them? We're not the most intimidating group of people. Someone else is after the two Corrupted Gems." _Someone big, bad…intimidating. Someone like… Oh NO._

"You've got a point there." Connie said. "Why WOULD they turn tail and run from us? What do you think Steven?"

"I've got nothing… AHA!" He shot up "What if the monster is turning back and forth into its original form? If it is, it might not be as corrupted as we think. There might still be a chance to save it!"

"How?" Connie questioned.

 **ROOAR!**

"Crap, we have to get going!" I ran outside of our makeshift shelter and looked for the tracks, which were to my left. "This way!" I ran slow so that Steven and Connie could keep up. We eventually reached the monster, who paced around before scratching a rock face.

"It seems scared... I-is it running from us?" Connie asked.

"Maybe it's running... From itself?" Steven said.

"Shhh! Keep your voice down!" Connie scolded. _Show your face, I know that you're here…_

The walkie-talkie beeped "Hello. How's it going? This weather has really taken a turn for the worse, and I would hate to be responsible for putting you two in danger. Make sure you bundle up with" The monster turned towards us. I turned around towards the two and said

"Turn it off, turn it off!"

Steven pulled it out and tried to turn it off, but he couldn't.

"And remember, if you find the monster, don't make any loud, startling noises." _Pearl, you're very loud and startling right now._

"Stupid, slippery mittens!" Steven continued to try to turn it off, but to no avail.

"Hello?! Anyone there?! I'm just going to keep talking until somebody answers." Pearl pretty much blew our cover.

What happened next would best be described as a Brain-Fade. This is when the mind of a normally intelligent being makes a decision that is, for lack of a better term, completely stupid. These can be caused by stress, lack of energy, and other factors. Why am I saying this? Because Steven's brain completely faded into the shadow realm when he chucked the walkie-talkie away from us.

"Steven!" Connie and I said.

I turned around and saw the monster standing right in my face. I summoned my gauntlets "Time to dance."

"Wait," Steven grabbed my shoulder "let me try talking to it." He took a step towards the monster "Hey, how's it goin'? Mmn, Can you hear me? Are you in there somewhere..?" He extended a hand towards the thing. "You can control this. Remember who you used to be!"

Connie leaned in towards us and whispered "Steven, I don't think it's working." Before starting to unsheathe her sword.

The monster seemed to notice this, and it proceeded to attack is.

It rose up on its hind legs before trying to slam down its fore legs on us. I jumped back while Steven summoned a bubble that protected Connie and himself. The monster put force on the bubble until it popped, sending the two flying in different directions. The thing turned its attention to Steven. _I've got to do something._

"Hey! Look over here you dunce!" The monster turned towards me "What happened to you? Did you get hit by a train? That's the only way that someone could be that UGLY."

 **ROAR!** The monster charged at me, I skillfully jumped out of its way.

"One of you two need to get that walkie-talkie and call Pearl!" I yelled. The monster turned around and charged again. This time, I stood my ground and rocked it with a powerful right uppercut. It started hobbling around aimlessly. _I knocked the sense out of it… Epic._

Connie must have gotten a hold of the walkie-talkie, because I heard her say "Pearl! We've found the monster!"

"What?!" Pearl sounded shocked.

"We need your help!"

"I'll be right there Connie!"

With Pearl contacted, the only thing that I had to do was destabilize the gem's form. The monster shook its head and regained its composure before charging at me again. But before it could reach me it was blindsided by none other than

"Jasper." I said quietly. _I knew it!_ Jasper stood on top of the monster, and looked down at it threateningly.

"Who's that?" Connie asked.

Understandably, Steven started to freak out "Bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bubble!" He summoned a bubble that protected Connie and himself. I had to stay calm, because if I didn't, nobody else would have a reason to. I would be lying if I said that I wasn't a little scared.

Jasper went to town on the Corrupted Gem. Completely annihilating it before ripping its gem out, which destroyed its physical form with a

 **Poof**

"Those footprints... The monsters were running from her!" Connie only came to the conclusion about 30 minutes after I did.

Pearl finally showed up "Connie! Where's the-JASPER!" I ran to their side, ready to protect them from the new threat.

Jasper looked at us then started chuckling "Hey Rose, look what I got." She held up the gems of the Corrupted monsters.

 **SNAP!** _=_=_

Then, she walked away, disappearing into the snowstorm. Chuckling the whole time.

Steven's bubble disappeared as Pearl sighed out of relief "Are you guys okay?"

"Nobody got hurt. Or at least I don't think that anyone got hurt." I said.

Pearl tried to hug the three of us, but I took a step back at the last second. "Oh, thank goodness! What a disaster! I never would've let you come on this mission if I knew Jasper would be here!"

"I'm sorry." Connie said.

"What?" Pearl gave Connie a confused look.

"I thought I'd be ready to fight, but I wasn't. I failed."

"You weren't supposed to fight, you were supposed to call me and you did. This was a total success." _That probably stung._

Steven put his hands up in the air "Connie's first mission!"

"Connie's first mission" Pearl said.

"Group picture." Steven pulled out his phone. _oh no._

"Haha, Steven!" Connie said as Steven ran in front of everyone to take a picture using the phone's front facing camera. I decided to hide behind Pearl, as I didn't want to be in another picture.

"Oh! A-another picture. Tell me when you-"

 **SNAP!** _DARN IT!_

"Aaand, got it!" Steven showed us the picture.

Not only did Pearl look like a fool in the picture, I was still in it.. Because, like an idiot, I peeked around Pearl to see what angle the picture was being taken at.

"Oh, no... Are your parents going to see this?" Pearl took the words out of my mouth as we started to walk towards the warp pad.

"My parents see all of my photos, ma'am." Connie said.

 _NOOOOO!_


	8. Chapter 8 - Rrumble In The Desert! v3

**_NOTHING CHANGED. I just realised thar the different font types that I use didn't carry over for my stories. That might cause confusion. I'm super sorry guys. But really the only things that I use are italics (Diamond's inner thoughts) and boldprint (onomatopoiea. Yes, I probably spelled it incorrectly). So, if you've already read this chapter, you don't need a double take._**

 ** _-Waifu_**

 **The Next Day…**

I was back at the arcade again. This time instead of playing a 'regular' arcade game, I decided to play some of the more…physical games.

I walked up to an odd looking machine with orange colored balls held back from the player by a gate, with a Plexiglas board that had a basket attached to it. There was another machine just like it, and the two sat awkwardly in the corner of the Arcade like giants amongst normal people. _This looks interesting_

"I did not expect to see you here." I looked over my shoulder to see Caroline standing behind me with a grin on her face. She wasn't wearing that shirt that we won at the carnival. Instead, she wore a plain black T-Shirt and cargo shorts. "Didn't think that you liked sports either."

"I don't." I said as Caroline started putting coins in one of the machines.

"Nonsense, why else would you be eyeing this thing? It looks like it hasn't seen any action in years." Caroline knocked on the machine. "Anyway, let's go head to head!" _I don't even know how to play yet…_ Of course, I wasn't going to tell her that because I didn't want her to know that I wasn't a human.

I put 4 of my precious coins into my machine and Caroline pressed a button on hers.

"TWO PLAYER VERSUS MODE CHOSEN! READY!?" The gates opened, allowing the balls to roll down to me. I picked one up, and started playing around with it. "GO!" I immediately looked at Caroline to see what she was doing. It looked as if she was trying to put the ball into the hoop. I say 'trying' because she was failing miserably.

"I'm DEFINITELY not as good as I used to be." She commented on her poor performance. However, the score was still 0-0. "Diamond, are you going to shoot the rock? Or do you just like to watch people fail?"

"Oh, my bad." I turned towards the basket, and using my right hand to guide the ball and my left to push it, I threw it towards the basket.

 **SWISH!**

 **BUZZ!** "GAME OVER! PLAYER 1 WINS!"

"Are you kidding me!?" Caroline looked at me "I didn't know that you were GOOD at sports too."

I shrugged "I just made 1 shot, who knows what would've happened if I took more? You can't call me good after that."

"Whatever." Caroline said "Let's play something that I'm good at!"

She led me to the four Fast and The Furious machines and sat down in one. I took the one directly to her left. We both inserted our coins into our respective machines.

"You don't stand a chance." Caroline inputted her pin# into the machine (which basically saves your process, records, etc.) "I own every record for this-. WHAT THE!"

"What is it?" I said while I put my pin in.

"Some cuck took my records! ALL OF THEM!"

I looked awkwardly at my screen as the machine said "WELCOME BACK!" And displayed all of my best times; all of which were track records. °.° _…_

"Oh well, I guess that I'll have to step my game up." She said. "Let's race on Mulholland drive!"

As soon as she picked Mulholland Drive, it auto picked the track for me, which took us to the car select screen. I had been using a lime green Mitsubishi Eclipse on every race since I tried the game out, and I wasn't going to change up now. Caroline chose a white Dodge Charger. Both of our vehicles and our usernames popped up on each other's screens with a timer underneath to give other people a chance to join in.

"Wait a minute," Caroline squinted her eyes "Isn't DMD the person who stole my records!?"

"Uh, maybe?" _Crap._

"You're good at THIS TOO?!" She sighed "Well, I'm gonna be gunnin' for you. This is my type of game. Prepare to get SMOKED!"

 **TWO AND A HALF MINUTES LATER…**

"No way… I've never lost a race before!" Caroline softly hit her head on her machine's steering wheel. I swear that I could see a single tear streak down her face… then it was almost immediately pushed to the side by a wide smile. "Diamond, you are the G.O.A.T of arcade games."

"Goat? Isn't that like an animal or something?" Her head immediately sprung up as she burst out laughing at my question.

"Yeah, but it stands for Greatest Of All Time. Where did you grow up? First not knowing what Basketball is, then this?"

"Wait, you knew that I didn't know anything about 'Basketball'?" I asked.

"Of course, why else would you waste all of your valuable time watching me shoot when you're supposed to out score me?" She shrugged.

"Oh, um…" _She's on to me…_

She wrapped her left arm around me "You're still my bud though."

 **KHAAAAAAAAN!**

For a split second, I thought that someone was actually yelling… Then Caroline pulled out that small rectangle again.

"Well I guess my time here is up. Bye Diamond!" She stood up and began to leave. "Oh wait! Diamond, you wouldn't happen to be free for the next few days would ya?"

"I'm almost always available, why?"

"I have some business to take care of over in Golden City, I can't leave later than tonight, and all of the flights headed there are already fully booked. I wanted to know if you could roll with me. You know, to keep me company."

"….Sure, I'll do it." I smiled at her.

"Great! meet me outside of this place tonight at eight PM, we'll go from there!"

After Caroline left, I decided to leave as well to tell everyone else where I'd be for a little while. I didn't have to go far, because Amethyst was on the beach right in front of the Arcade. Along with that lion and a tall girl who had light brown skin.

The tall girl turned around and said "AMETHYST!", then she SPLIT APART into CONNIE AND STEVEN before saying

"You're back!" and

"You're okay!" respectively. _Wait, what happened to Amethyst? Why are they reacting like that? HOW COULD THEY FUSE!? -,-_

"Thank goodness!" Steven ran to Amethyst and hugged her. More like jumped onto her, but whatever.

"Uh, thank you guys! Heh…" It was clear that Amethyst's words weren't completely sincere.

Steven stopped hugging her and asked "Did you see us?"

"It was just like you said!" Connie added "You were in trouble and we just had to fight!" I had so many questions, but so little answers. _I'll wait for them to calm down, then jump in._

"Everything we knew just came together!" Steven continued.

"We fused!" Connie did as well.

Steven jumped out of excitement "We won! I can't wait to tell the others!" Then, Steven, Connie, and the lion ran off. Amethyst looked awful as she watched the three run off. I was about to go comfort her, but-

"You're still here, great!" Caroline had returned.

"It can't be eight already." I said.

"No, but I just couldn't wait any longer, and since you're here now…" She smirked.

"Hey, I'm not against leaving now."

"Good. C'mon, follow me!" She grabbed my wrist and ran around the Arcade, where a large black vehicle was waiting. It was huge, larger than any other land vehicle that I have seen on Earth. _Whoa._ "Do you like the RV?"

"I-I've never seen one before."

"Just wait till you see the inside!" Caroline grinned.

She was right, it WAS cooler on the inside. It was like a mobile house. Complete with a bed, refrigerator, a TV, and a bathroom. But, I decided to not go snooping around. Instead, I sat in the passenger seat and strapped myself in. Caroline, who was in the driver's seat (duh), put a key into what looked to be the RV's ignition and turned it., turning the thing on. Caroline proceeded to drive the thing into the street, and we were off towards our destination.

"Hey Diamond?" Caroline got serious, probably for the first time in her life.

"Yeah, what's up?" I said as I looked out of the window at the buildings that seemed to fly by.

"I definitely owe you for this one. If you need anything, let me know."

"You don't owe me anything, I don't work for a price. Just being a friend that's all." I looked at her, grinned and gave her a thumb up.

She glanced at me for a split second, then refocused on the road with a smirk "Well if that's the case, then let's play some tunes!"

 **ABOUT 10 HOURS OF RIDING LATER….**

"So let them say we won't do better, Lay out the rules that we can't break. They wanna sit and watch you wither, Their legacy's too hard to take." Our journey had taken us to the desert. Why? I don't know. Caroline did say something about a shortcut, but I was too busy focusing on the then passing trees and wildlife to get most of the details. "Oh, we said our dreams will carry us, And if don't fly we will run. Now we push right past to find out, Or either win what they have lost. Come on Diamond, sing with me!" I giggled a little at the request. I was about to comply, but…

 **BANG!**

Something rammed into the passenger side of the RV, sending it flying a few feet before it started to roll over repeatedly. Surprisingly, nothing big moved inside of the RV. Everything must have been bolted down nicely. The thing continued to roll for about five seconds before it finally stopped. _At least it stopped right side up._

I was barely affected, it was Caroline that I was worried about "Caroline! Are you okay!?" I unbuckled my seatbelt before springing into action. Caroline looked alright. Just a few scratches and bruises, nothing major.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine." She said weakly "What about you?"

"I'm all good." I said as I unbuckled her seatbelt "Can you walk?" She tried to stand, but halfway up she screamed out in pain and held her midsection.

"No."

"Then I'll carry you, we need to find you some help." I put one of my arms behind her back and the other around the bend of her knees before picking her up with ease. As I walked towards the door

 **POOF**

The airbags FINALLY activated. _Only a minute too late._ Ignoring that, I walked over to the main door, kicked it out, and left the RV to look for help.

"Of all the gems those WEAKLINGS could've sent after me, YOU'RE the one they choose!?"

And of course, it isn't as simple as 'just find help'.

"Jasper, we're not even here for you. Just leave us be. Please!" I pretty much begged. _This is bad, this is REALLY bad._

"No way!" Jasper grinned "Did you think that I forgot about what happened the last time we fought!? This time I'm taking you down, fair and square!"

"Wuh, what is she talking about?" Caroline asked.

"Nothing, just stay here." I laid her down beside the RV.

"Not like I've got a choice." Caroline forced out a chuckle.

When I turned around, Jasper wasn't there anymore. _Huh? Where'd she go?_

I just had to ask.

 **POW**

I was sent flying by a punch to my right cheek. I wasn't able to regain my footing, and ended up on the ground about 20 feet away from the RV as a result. However, I quickly shook this off and was up within seconds. I didn't get a moment to catch my breath, as I saw Jasper, curled up in a ball, charging at me. Or maybe it would be considered rolling. That doesn't matter, because I effortlessly rolled out of the way anyways. Jasper made a 180 degree turn before charging at me again. This time, I summoned my gauntlets and tried to catch her with a right uppercut. But Jasper was able to stop on a dime and lean away from the punch, effectively dodging it.

"Is that the best you can do!?" She grabbed by forearm.

"Eep." That was all that I could squeeze out of my mouth before she threw me. This time I was able to land on my feet. _She's gonna be charging at me again._ And what do you know, I was right. Not wanting to risk being thrown again, I summoned my bow and fired an arrow that exploded on contact.

 **Boom!**

Smoke and dust enveloped me, obscuring my vision. I looked around, but I couldn't see through the stuff. "Did I get her?" I spoke to myself.

"So naïve! I turned my head just in time… to see Jasper ram into my back at full speed using that headpiece of hers.

"AAAAAAAH!" I screamed out in pain as Jasper tossed me to the side like a rag doll. I tried to get up, but my body just wouldn't, just couldn't. _C'mon, I can't go down. Not yet._

Jasper grabbed me by the neck and lifted me up. "And I thought that this would be a challenge! You're barely stronger than those failures that you're associated with." She started laughing "I hope that you've enjoyed your time on this miserable planet, because the next time that you'll be in your physical form, it will be in front of Yellow Diamond!" She extended her free hand towards my chest, where my gem was located. "What the-!"

I grabbed her wrist with my right hand. "No, IT WON'T!" I hit her in the midsection with a right legged kick, which made her drop me.

Jasper growled "You've done it now! I'm gonna destroy you!" She curled up into a ball before charging at me again. I quickly summoned my gauntlets and tried to block the attack. Surprisingly, it actually worked, and we were locked in a 'face off' of sorts. Dust was flying everywhere as she tried to overpower me. I dug my heels into the sand as she started to push me back a little. _C'mon, something's got to give!_

And that something eventually gave.

 **Clang!**

Jasper, now standing upright, stumbled backwards while holding her head. _Now's my chance!_ I sprinted up to her at full speed and hit her with a left hook to the gut. That was all it took.

"Hnng, how'd you-"Jasper stumbled about, holding her midsection. Just another knockout, but she just…stopped and regained her balance. _She's not finished!?_ "Grrrr, this isn't over!" She curled into a ball, then sped off. I breathed a sigh of relief. _Maybe I should go after her._

"Diamond! Oh….D-Diamond!" I heard a familiar voice yell. _Caroline!_ I was back at the RV in a flash. Caroline was holding her abdomen, where there was a large red stain on her white shirt. "Diamond, is that you?" I nodded "I don't think that I'm going to make it."

"Nonsense." I picked her up the same way as before. "Hold on tight."

"What are you talking abou-AAAAAAA!" I took off, looking for a warp pad. I didn't want to, but I knew that I had to. _There has to be one around here somewhere. There!_

I skidded to a stop in front of a warp pad, and it looked functional.

"Don't move any closer to that!" I turned around and saw a police officer with a gun pointed directly at us. "That's government property! Any unauthorized personnel seen within this area are punishable by a fine of-"

I sprinted up to him, kicked the gun out of his hands, and ran back to the warp pad. All within one second. While he was still comprehending what happened, I warped back to the beach house.

"What just happened, where are we?" Caroline asked. Her voice was very weak. I was losing her.

"Beach City." I said casually. Inside, I was freaking out. _Where can I find help!?_

I burst through the doors of the Big Donut "Sadie, you've gotta help me!"

She was stocking up a refrigerator with various drinks. "Diamond, how can I- oh my GOODNESS! You look awful!" She dropped what she was doing and ran to us.

"Enough about me! My friend is the one who needs help!"

"Alright. I-I'll call 9-1-1. Sit tight." Sadie ran to the back of the building. _I guess that my work here is done._

I lied Caroline's now unconscious body down beside the door and walked out. I didn't want any more people knowing that I was a gem. With all of those alien movies and stuff, you never know how people will react to something like that.

With no other options (since the beach house was empty) I silently made the trek back to the Barn. As I made my way back, I began to realize how much I'd been beaten up myself. Every part of my body was aching, and I began to limp instead of walk.

When I finally made it to the Barn, it was business as usual. Peridot and Lapis were conversing outside of it.

"I've got it! What if we- Oh. My. Goodness!" She ran up to me "What happened!?"

"I had a little… Altercation." My legs gave out, but Peridot caught me before I was able to fall.

"Altercation!? You look terrible!" She looked back at the Barn, where Lapis stood with a shocked look on her face "Lapis! I need some help here!"

"Huh?" Lazuli was snapped out of whatever she was thinking about "Oh, right."

The two (really mostly Lapis) carried me to the Barn before lying me down on the floor, I quickly sat up. Peridot sat down in front of me while Lapis continued to stand.

"Well, are you gonna tell us what happened?"Peridot asked anxiously.

I sighed and looked down at the floor "I got into a fight with Jasper." Peridot gasped out of shock. Even Lapis' eyes shot open as her always stoic demeanor went right out the Barn door.

"You what!?" Peridot yelled before grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me "Why did you do that!? You're lucky to be here right now!"

I softly pushed her off of me. It didn't look like that though, but I promise. Softly. "It wasn't like that, she attacked me."

"Well, why didn't you just run away?" Lapis asked.

"I was with somebody, a human. She was hurt pretty bad. I don't know if she could take me running and maneuvering at full speed and whatnot. And I couldn't just leave her."

"Well what happened? Did you win?" Peridot asked.

"Obviously she didn't if she looks like that." Lapis said bluntly.

"I made her run away. Does that count as a victory?" The two were even more shocked than before when I said this. Sadly, I couldn't enjoy the incoming praise that I was about to receive.

Suddenly, a huge wave of pain hit me, causing me to retreat to my gem instinctively.

 **Back on Creo. 16 Years ago…**

As we entered the game of the city, I expected something small. Something underdeveloped. Like a shanty town of sorts. Boy was I wrong. Skyscrapers were scattered about the city, with the average building being about two stories. Gems of Various types filled the streets, walking to their destinations with purpose. Vendors were also plentiful, selling everything from communication devices to weapons.

"Well, we won't be needing this anymore." Pearl got off of the motorcycle "Follow me."

"Are we just going to leave the bike?" I asked as I hopped off of the thing.

"Of course not. Watch this." Pearl pulled out a small rectangular box and with a push of a button, the motorcycle vanished.

"Wow." _What did I just witness?_

"C'mon we don't have time to waste!" I turned to see Pearl a good 50 feet ahead of me.

"Hey! Wait up!"

She led me to the tallest building in the city. When it came to looks, it was just an average skyscraper, glass windows everywhere. She walked up to the steps leading to the front entrance, where two Quartz gems stood guarding it. They both moved out of her way, allowing her through, but quickly got back in position to stop me.

"Where are you going? Only authorized personnel can-"

"She's with me." I heard Pearl say from behind them.

"Oh you are? My apologies, come on in."

The Inside of the building was pretty barren. Just a reception desk to the left right beside the door… with nothing else. There was a ton of wasted space. Or at least I thought.

Pearl walked right past the desk and kept walking until she reached the back of the room. Then she put her hand on the wall, revealing hidden doors that opened up to reveal an elevator of sorts. She quickly walked inside of it with me right behind her.

"You're surprisingly quiet. Don't you have any questions?" Pearl pushed one of the many buttons inside of the elevator, causing its doors to close before we started descending instead of ascending.

"Yeah, I've got one. Why are we going down?" Pearl sighed at my question.

"That's it? Geez, why did I even bother?" The elevator doors opened, revealing what looked to be a military base. Again, gems were hustling from place to place. But this time, it was nothing but gems that were probably used for combat. We were on a platform overlooking all of the chaos going on down below. Trucks carrying things ranging from supplies to gems, superiors barking out orders to lesser soldiers, with the occasional slacker or two getting chewed out. "Follow me."

Pearl walked out of the elevator and took a right, leading us down a mostly empty hallway. Then she abruptly stopped, causing me to bump into her accidentally.

"My bad" I said.

"No problem." She put her hand on the wall to our right, and surprise surprise, it opened a hidden door to another secret room. We both walked through the door to… nothing. No really, the room was completely empty.

"What, is there another hidden door that you're going to magically activate?" I was getting kind of sick of walking.

"Nope" Pearl said "This is where we need to be." A control panel shot up out of the floor in front of us. "Walk forward a little bit."

"Okay." I took a few steps forward. Suddenly, a large one way mirror shot up from the floor behind me, effectively separating us. I spun around in an instant and grit my teeth. "What's the meaning of this!?"

"Relax, relax." I heard Pearl say via speakers that were somewhere in the room "I just need to see how strong you are. You know, for future reference. Before you even ask, I'm going to generate a hologram of myself carrying a stun baton, and you'll have to fight against it." _Sounds simple enough._

"Battle bot configuration complete. Difficulty, max level." I turned around and faced my first opponent. "Battle mode engaged!"

Not-Pearl charged right at me, before trying to jab me in the stomach with the stun baton. I quickly sidestepped the attack and threw a right hook, which she blocked with ease. She swung the baton again, this time at my extended right arm. Not-Pearl was still too slow for me, and she ended up paying the price for it as I moved out of the way again before kicking the baton out of her hand. It skidded to the ground behind me.

"Okay that's all I needed to see." The hologram disappeared and the one way mirror retracted, revealing an impressed Pearl. "You're ready for your first mission." She said casually before walking out. I quickly followed her out of the room.

Pearl looked both ways before deciding to go right and continue down the seemingly endless hallway. "Well, since no one else is here, I'll give you the rundown of the mission. Our enemies hold the Rey River and its surrounding land, a key area as it would connect us to major supply routes that cover this entire continent."

"And we're going to take it back?" I said quietly.

"Of course, but it isn't that easy. They have this building… a-uh…Gem Detection Station. Basically, it scans an area, finds all of the gems within said area, and determines whether or not they're friendlies. If we decide to mobilize into an area covered by a GDS, they'll see us coming from miles away."

"How will we be able to attack if they know that we're coming?" I asked.

"That's where you come into play. I'll send you in with our best covert operations team, since you've met two thirds of the unit before."

"You're referring to-"

"Yes, Gina and Alexis. You'll be outfitted with spandex suits designed to make you invisible to the GDS. Please don't damage them, it takes a ton to make them. While Alexis and Gina distract the guards, you'll slip in through the back of the compound, find a way underground, where the power core is located, then you'll plant an explosive device and high tail it out of there. If things play out the way they should, my units can roll right through their defenses."

"Ok, when do we start?" I smirked.

"Right now."

Pearl led me to the end of the hallway, where two rubies were waiting.

"Alright. Alexis, Gina, I'm counting on you. Make sure that Diamond isn't left out of the loop." Pearl said. _They're RUBIES!?_

"You can count on us ma'am!" Alexis grinned and gave her a thumb up. _At least I remember their voices._ And exit Pearl. "Alright Diamond, let's go. I want to get this over with." She turned around and put her hand on the back wall, revealing ANOTHER hidden door. Behind this door was a small garage, with 2 ATV's and a Peridot typing away on a finger screen.

"So, are you heading out now?" The Peridot asked.

"Yeah, this should be easy. Especially with our new member." Gina looked at me and grinned. I smiled back.

"Well, let's not waste any more time, get suited up and get moving towards the base."

 **Boom Baby!**

 **Great D.A. Creoean Military Base Delta**

 **2100 Hours**

 **Diamond is tasked with the destruction of a GDS, maybe the entire base if possible**

"Alright, I'm in position." I was hidden in some bushes that were right beside the base's 20 foot wall. Things were mostly silent, mostly.

"What are you Clods doing!? GET BACK TO WORK!"

"Yes'm."

"Alright Diamond, we're in position too." I heard a voice that didn't sound like Alexis or Gina. It sounded more like a mix of the two. "We're going in now, be ready."

I was on edge. Mainly because I was thinking of all the ways that the mission could fail.

"WHAT ARE YOU IDIOTS DOING!?"

"Our job, you know, what you told us to do 30 seconds ago."

"THERE'S BEEN A SECURITY BREACH YOU IMBECILES! GET DOWN THERE AND NEUTRALIZE THE THREAT!"

"Uh- Of course!" _I guess that's my cue._

I waited a few seconds, then I emerged from my hiding place and effortlessly jumped over the wall. Gina and Alexis must've done something huge, because this side of the base was completely empty. The base had many different buildings, one in particular that stood out was a two story building with a satellite dish on its roof. _Well, it's a start._

I ran to the building, only to be hit by a 'roadblock'. "This door can only be opened by a security scan, what do I do."

"That's the benefit of you being… you." The Peridot said "Put your hand on the scanner, there's a good chance that you'll have override privileges."

I put my hand on the control panel, a small gem lit up and scanned my body from head to toe. "Welcome, my Diamond" a robotic voice said as the door opened. Behind it was a long hallway with at least 20 doors. _Nice…_

 _Nope._ **SLAM!** _No._ **SLAM!** _Not this one._ **SLAM!** _Nope._ **SLAM!** _Naw._ **SLAM!** _Nill._ **SLAM!**

At the end of the hallway, there was one more door. Just like the front entrance, it required a security scan. I overrode it the same way that I did the first. Inside wasn't a direct path to the basement, but it was the next best thing, the control room.

It was just an empty room with an extremely large finger screen in the center of it.

"Diamond, have you found the basement yet?" The Peridot asked.

"Nope, but I've found the control room. Maybe we can use it to find out how to get underground."

"You're smarter than I thought." She sounded impressed "Your suit is equipped with a data drive, just start messing around with the finger screen and I might be able to find you a way underground."

"I'm on it." That was probably the easiest thing that I'd do all night. I looked around through the various logs,

and found nothing of interest.

"Ok, I've got it!" Luckily I didn't have to bore myself for long. "Put your hand on the finger screen as if you were trying to use a control pad to open a door. Then say the passcode 'Alpha Delta, Forty-niner'."

"Alpha Delta, Forty-Niner." Suddenly, the ground to my left opened up, revealing a staircase that went underground. "Bingo. Thanks….."

"Casey, the name's Casey." She said awkwardly.

"Casey."

"Sorry to interrupt this bonding moment, but Diamond you need to get out of there, FAST." Gina/Alexis said.

"What?" I was confused. _She should still be distracting them._

"I was forced to retreat. They have at least 3 quintuple Ruby fusions at their disposal, a couple of Quartzes…you just need to MOVE!" Just as Gina/Alexis said this, the door to the control room began to open. _CRAP!_

I sprinted down the stairs towards the black abyss at full speed. Luckily, the opening closed up behind me. However, I wasn't safe yet. When I reached the bottom of the stairs, the once pitch black area was illuminated by old, yellow lights. This area's design was much simpler than what was on top: A long, hallway that looped around in a circle with doors on the inside, probably leading to the same room, primitive holding cells with metal bars that were more suited to lock up organic lifeforms, and exits on the outside. I completely ignored the doors on the outside and used my clearance to get into the other room. _Bingo._

A large yellow power core sat in the center of the room with various wires connecting it to not only the GDS, but the entire base. I walked up to it, planted the bombs that were in a backpack that I carried with me, and left the room.

"Alright guys, the bombs have been planted."

"I'm arming them now." Casey said "Alright, you've got five minutes to get out of there."

"Oh, did you try to escape again?" A new voice nearly made me lose it and blow my cover, but I realized that it wasn't talking to me. It was coming from further ahead in the hallway. "Don't lie to me, you know what happens when you lie. Don't you?" I silently creeped ahead to see the source of the sound. It was an Amethyst, who was talking to something that was in one of the holding cells. "It's ok, I'll go easy on you, since you're being moved to that zoo tomorrow. Just don't try anything funny." Things kept on working out in my favor, since the Amethyst decided to leave as suddenly as she showed up, and she walked the other way to do so.

I walked up to the cell that the Amethyst was standing in front of, and what was inside it shocked me. _An organic!?_ A human boy to be exact, and he looked no older than 6. His white skin was almost covered in mud and dirt, his black hair messy and unkempt, the tattered, greyish rags that he wore as clothing,

He was pretty messed up.

He was near the bars, but when he noticed my presence, he instantly scrambled to the back of the cell.

Now, I was at a crossroads. _Should I take him back to the city? If I don't, he's dead. But if I do, he might slow me down._ But I'm softhearted, and I didn't want to leave him to die. So I kinda forced myself to try and save him.

"Haaa!" With a couple of well-placed kicks, I was able to take out some of the metal bars. That gave me a space large enough for me to walk through. I walked into the cell, and tried to get the kid. When I got close to him, he cowered in fear, and he even flinched as I extended my hand. "C'mon, I'm not here to hurt you. I want to help you. If we don't get moving now, we're both through."

"What? Diamond, what did you say? You know that you're in danger right?" Casey said.

"Yeah, I just found an organic lifeform. I'm gonna take him with me."

"Okay, but you need to get moving now. You only have 4 minutes left. Also, you can mute your microphone by pushing the button on your earpiece." I took the hint and muted my Mic.

"Please, once I bust you out you can do whatever you want. You'll be free again." He looked at my outstretched hand for a second, then back at me, then my hand, then me, hand, me, hand…

Suddenly, he grabbed it and ran out of the cell. "Woah, hey! Where are we going?" He suddenly stopped at a seemingly unimportant part of the walkway, pointed at me, then acted as if he were punching the wall in the 'outside' part of the walkway. "You want me to punch that?" He nodded. "Okay, stand back." I wound up and swung at the wall with all of my strength. The part of the wall that I hit caved in, revealing a secret passageway that was just tall enough for me to fit in without crouching. _This is going to be easier than I thought._

He took my hand and led me through the long, dark passageway. I was a little scared, _where's this kid taking me?_ But that all went out of the window when we reached the end of the tunnel. He opened up a hatch that was made out of wood, and climbed up through it. I did the same. I instantly realized where that tunnel took us.

"We're outside?" I looked around to see if it was true. _Yep, we're not in the compound anymore._ "Alright, let's get away from here." This time I was the one who took charge, grabbing his hand and running (well, more like fast walking for me) to where my ATV was located. Once we got to the ATV, I hopped on it and gestured for him to get on as well. "Hold on to me."

"Diamond….are you there?" Alexis said in an anxious tone.

I unmuted my microphone "Uh, yeah… I've extracted the kid and we're on our way back to the base." With the kid on board, I turned on the ATV and took off. My hair blew in the wind as we whizzed through the forest.

"You made it out!? That's beyond cool!" Alexis was exited now "I didn't think that you were gonna make it!"

"Just in time too" Casey said "The bomb should go off in 5…4….3….2…."

 **BOOM!** The ground shook violently, causing me to almost lose control of the ATV. The kid wrapped his arms around my waist and held on for dear life.

"….I guess that my calculations were off…"

Suddenly the three of them started laughing. "What? Am I missing something?" I asked.

"Yeah." Gina struggled out in between giggles "We'll tell you when you get back to HQ."


	9. Chapter 9 - Phase One

_**Yeah, Yeah, I know, I know. I was just grinding to get that GPA up. Now I've got a bunch of free time on my hands, so let's do this.**_

 **Barn time…. Again….**

When I took my physical form once more, I was in a sitting position, and was surrounded by 3 people: Peridot, who was wearing a red bow tie for some reason, Lazuli, who looked as uninterested as ever, and Amethyst, who didn't look all too excited either.

"Diamond!" For the first time ever, Peridot was actually excited to see me return "You cane back just in time! We were just showing them our Morps!" She also had on a red bowtie for some reason.

I gave her a confused look "Morps? What's a…. morp?"

"You know how we created music for your eyes?" I nodded "Well, that's what we started calling them."

I sighed "But that's art. And who's the 'them' that you're referring to? I only see Amethyst."

"Ugh… Diamond…. You're crushing me…." I looked down to see none other than

"Steven!?" I shot up in an instant "I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay." He said as he stood up. "So, how have things been going here?"

I grinned "Things have been going great! Lapis and Peridot may be a little…. Difficult to deal with, but I couldn't ask for better company… except you of course. Give me some!" I raised my hand and he high fived it.

"Ahem." Peridot said impatiently. "Let's get back to what we were doing" She walked to a small table that had a broken tape recorder and some tapes. As a matter of fact, the entire place was now filled with junk. Even more than before. _What happened while I was gone?_ "This piece is called 'Wow, thanks.' It represents the struggles of intercommunication. The tape is the ribbon that binds our experience on Earth together. It has no functional purpose! It just makes me feel bad!" _0.o_

While I was thinking of all of the ways they could've gotten all of the trash here in the first place, Lazuli gestured towards her 'artistic creation'. Which was a baseball glove, a bat, and a baseball tethered to a stick by strings. "Here's my meep morp. This is a baseball bat. It reminds me of when I played baseball." She then took a couple steps to the side, revealing a leaf that was on top of a rock. "This is the leaf Steven gave me. It reminds me of the time... Steven gave me a leaf." _Gee, Lapis could probably make anything boring…._

"Hey, yeah! It reminds me of that too!" Steven said. _This is torturous._

Suddenly, a TV cut on, capturing everybody's attention. It was playing a scene of Camp Pining Hearts on loop where one of the characters… Tracy… or Terry…. Or was it Percy? Who cares? He was saying "I just feel trapped."

Steven had a worried look on his face as he asked "Is this one about... the thousands of years you spent trapped in a mirror?" My eyes shot open. _wait WHAT!? How am I only finding out about this now!?_

"No, I just really like that show." But of course, Lapis kills any emotion that may have manifested instantly.

"Oh, Amethyst! You'll love this one!" Peridot said before walking to a set of four toilets. Three of which were placed in an odd-looking semicircle while the 4th one was slightly elevated and sat behind the 'middle' toilet. These toilets were actually in MY part of the barn, and were in front of the wall that I painted. However, I didn't want anybody to see it anyway, so I didn't really care. "Check it out!"

"They're…. Toilets?" Amethyst sounded just as confused as I was.

"Right!?" Peridot started laughing "What will I think of next!" _Hopefully something that's actually funny…_ "This represents the time I spent imprisoned in your bathroom Steven." I snickered as Steven had a look of embarrassment on his face. "I call it 'Occupied'. It's a collaborative piece." Peridot gave Lapis a thumbs-up, and she returned the favor before making water spout from all four toilets. As juvenile as this sounds on paper, it was actually a nice display. I was impressed.

And apparently, Steven was impressed too "It's amazing!"

Amethyst, on the other hand, had a look half of disgust, half of confusion. "I don't get it."

"It's water, coming out of toilets. What's so difficult to understand?" I said while shrugging.

"I can see that at home." Amethyst muttered. _Oh, somebody's salty._ But before I could say that

"Diamond, do you have any art?" I felt chills run down my spine as Steven asked me that question.

I was visibly shaking as I turned towards him "N-no. I…. I don't have any art in here."

Peridot snickered "Oh, we did move these toilets in front of your painting. I'll move them out of the way."

"NOOOOOOOO!" I yelled as she used her metal powers to move the toilets, revealing my painting for Steven and Amethyst to see.

Steven gasped as he saw my painting "Whoa."

I blushed out of embarrassment and face palmed "It's awful, isn't it?"

"No!" Steven said "It's…. It's….. IT'S INCREDIBLE!"

"Really?" I asked.

"GRR, I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR STUPID PAINTING AND THE REST OF THIS GARBAGE!" Amethyst angrily stormed out of the barn.

I growled and clenched my fists "Why, you-." I took a step towards the barn door. _I'm gonna give her a piece of my mind._

But Steven got in my way "No, it was just a misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding? She CLEARLY disrespected me and the week that I spent on this piece."

"No, she's… It's Jasper" Steven's forever cheerful facial expression disappeared, leaving a slight frown in its place "Ever since she lost to Jasper, she's been obsessing about her, how she's 'not good enough', and how she must grow stronger and defeat her." I twitched a little at what Steven had said, as if there was a slight relatability about his statement. I just shrugged this off as mere superstition before refocusing on the task at hand.

"I'll handle it." I said calmly before walking outside of the barn. Amethyst wasn't far, as she was training using cans as targets.

 **CLANG! CLANG!**

"Hey, Amethyst" I said as I walked up towards her. She clearly heard me AND saw me. But what did she do? Focus even more on the cans, taking them out in rapid succession instead of giving me the light of day. "AMETHYST!" That stopped her dead in her tracks.

"What do you want?" She said rudely while crossing her arms.

"About Jasper,-" that was all it took to set her off

"No! I don't want to hear it! You don't know hoe it feels, to have something to prove! You're a Diamond! You were never an underdog in your life!" Her words echoed seemingly endlessly, I had a feeling that the others were behind me, peering from the barn door, trying to see what was going on.

My face, however, was emotionless "You don't know the slightest bit about me."

"What?" Amethyst said with an odd look on her face.

"I am by far the WEAKEST of all of the diamonds, no stronger than the average quartz gem. I win my fights due to my creativity, craftiness, and sheer luck. I have spent my entire life trying to show the Diamonds that I am worthy of bearing this prestigious title. But I have never been good enough. I couldn't defend my home planet, there is no way that I could fight any of them one on one. I couldn't even tell that one of my advisors was a spy until it was too late! I have spent my entire life hopelessly playing catch up to naturally stronger gems." I could feel tears starting to form in the corner of my eyes "So please, don't these thoughts consume you. For your own sake and others." Amethyst seemed to be moved by my speech, but that competitive fire never left her eyes.

"Yeah." Peridot walked up to me and wrapped her left arm around me "Not only are Jaspers and Amethysts COMPLETELY different quartzes, your Kindergartens are completely different. you're from the Prime Kindergarten in Facet Five. She's from the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine! Have you seen that place?"

"Wait, so Jasper and Amethyst are both from Earth?" I asked with a now confused look on my face.

"Precisely." Peridot started snickering "That place is a poorly constructed mess. You should see for yourself." By now, Steven was outside as well, and he seemed to be intrigued by this turn of events as he walked up to us. Peridot began to walk to the nearest warp pad "No, seriously, let's go. You'll get a kick out of this!"

"That's your problem, Paulette. You let yourself become the kayak race." Without turning around, I could tell that Lazuli was watching that trash TV show again on the repurposed truck bed. Just thinking about it made me shiver a little.

Peridot stopped dead in her tracks "Um, just one second. I wanna check and make sure Lapis is okay… HEY LAPIS ARE YOU OKAY!?" I shot Peridot a look for that nonsensical change in tone, but she paid me no mind.

"Yeah." Lapis responded.

"ARE YOU SURE!?" Peridot continued to yell for no reason.

"Yeah."

"I'M LEAVING, BUT I'LL BE BACK!"

"Okay."

"DO YOU NEED ANYTHING!?"

"No!" Lapis was clearly frustrated along with everyone else, but Peridot couldn't take a hint.

"WHAT SEASON IS THAT!?"

"Three"

"Peridot, let's go" Steven said in a slightly annoyed tone. _Finally!_

 **At that other Kindergarten**

When we warped to the Beta Kindergarten in Facet Nine, I was on the verge of laughing immediately. It seemed completely obvious that this was a rushed attempt at making as many gems as possible in a short timeframe. The exit holes were uneven, the walkways were narrow, and the walls were curved, which might result in certain gems coming out wrong. Red sandstone was the primary rock found here, and while it's okay for gem creation and the seeding machines can operate on it, it wasn't the best.

The Prime Kindergarten beat it out in every way.

Peridot was the first one to step off of the warp pad "Here we are, Jasper's origin. The Beta Kindergarten." The rest of us stepped off and proceeded to follow her.

It was bright out, so Steven had trouble seeing. "Am I underwhelmed? It's pretty bright out here."

"It's red" Amethyst commented, adding nothing to the discussion.

"Why does everything seem…. Rushed?" I asked.

"Rushed would be a great word to describe it. With all of this red sandstone, we're lucky this place hasn't blown away! Beta, am I right?" She looked back at us to see if the joke stuck.

Steven laughed, while the rest of us were unaffected. He leaned in towards me and whispered "Is that a math joke?"

I thought about it for a second, but before I could answer Peridot started talking again. " I mean, this place has got the right growing conditions in a pinch. I guess..." She picked up a rock and LICKED it before tossing it to the side. "But it's too small! It was obviously a total rush job."

"Uh, Rush job?" Steven said.

"Halfway through the rebellion, Homeworld scrambled to generate extra soldiers on the ground." _There was a rebellion going on here too?_ Peridot gestured towards two uneven exit holes "Look at this, the holes don't even line up! Hehe, it's like they just threw injectors down wherever!"

I giggled a little "Don't people get trained to do this? They had one job."

"I know right!" Peridot grinned "Oh and look at this one!" She ran towards an exit hole that was so bad, the gem came out sideways. I gasped before bending over and laughing. "This Carnelian came out sideways! How could she not, the walls are curved! Haha, what a joke." We continued to walk down the pathway, which featured bad exit hole after bad exit hole. It kinda made me wonder, _what could make homeworld panic like this?_

"Man, I didn't know it was this bad." Amethyst said while 'admiring' the pinnacle of gem failure and incompetence.

"I tell you, it really makes you appreciate the Prime Kindergarten, Amethyst. Your Kindergarten was so thought through! Sure, you might have spent extra time in the ground, but everything else is stacked in your favor! Great location, great holes, even spacing, consistent depth, a real kindergartener gets it right." Peridot was right. As creepy as the Prime Kindergarten looked, it was what a kindergarten SHOULD look like. "What you want to see is a vertical alignment; no angle in the exit; a clean, strong silhouette." Peridot stopped and looked around "None of these holes come close!"

"What about that one?" Amethyst pointed towards an exit hole that I somehow didn't see until just then. It was so massive, you just couldn't miss it, and EVERYTHING about it was perfect. It was so insanely amazing that I had to do a double take. _No way! This has to be-_

"Jasper" Peridot muttered quietly.

"This is Jasper's hole?" Steven questioned.

"It's huge." Amethyst commented.

"Guys, this might be the most perfect exit hole on this side of the universe." I said, stunned at the dominance that the exit hole projected over not just the landscape, but over us. I was, for the first time in a VERY long time, terrified. One look down at my trembling hands and I knew it.

I was outclassed.

That I, a one of a kind Diamond whose powers are supposed to be legendary, was beaten out by a quartz gem, albeit one of the strongest ones. Who knows, maybe Jasper had some type of plan, because she clearly let me win that fight in the desert…

"Diamond? Diamond!?" I was shaken out of my trance by a worried Steven "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"I-I'm fine!" I stammered "I was just dozing off, that's all." Steven obviously didn't buy my answer, but he chose not to go any further… for now at least.

"These marks are new. This hole's been dug out. Recently." I looked at what Peridot was talking about, which was a hole that was dug into the sandstone. It seemed to be just random, until I looked up ahead.

"Guys, you're gonna want to see this…" I walked further up the path with the rest of the group following me. Now, there were nothing but dug out holes. Each with metal poles as bars.

"These aren't exit holes anymore." Peridot said while looking at all of them.

"Then what are they?" Steven asked as he walked up to one of the makeshift cages.

And immediately paid the price for doing so.

The hand of a corrupted gem shot out from the cell with bad intentions. Before it could grab Steven, I sprinted up to him and yanked him out of its range. Amethyst and Peridot ran towards us, yelling "Steven!" in unison. The commotion we caused woke up every single corrupted gem in the vicinity.

"Corrupted gems, in cages?" Steven said.

I could see a silhouette in the distance through some dust that kicked up. The instant I realized who it belonged to, my heart dropped. "Look." I whispered quietly while pointing at it. The dust settled, revealing the one, the only

"Jasper." Amethyst muttered as she pulled out her whip. She was determined to win, but it was pointless. None of us stood a chance.

The three of us took cover behind a rock, peering around it to see what Jasper was doing.

"What is she doing?" Peridot asked nervously.

"She's been collecting corrupted gems for a while now." I said, "I didn't know that she had that many though."

Jasper was standing in front of one of the many cells that she created to hold the corrupted gems. The monster that was inside it, which was one of the two from the great north, growled menacingly.

Jasper was unintimidated "Pipe down!" She commanded before giving one of the bars a vicious kick. "You take orders from me now! You used to be a Quartz too, didn't you? What happened to you?" the monster growled in response to the question "Tch, Disgraceful. I can't believe I've resorted to recruiting you freaks! You're almost as bad as that Crystal runt. Just look at you. This planet ruins everything! Well," she chuckled "except for me."

"Okay, if we play our cards right, we can take her by surprise." I said quietly "Amethyst, I need you to..." I looked over to where Amethyst was standing, only to see that she was gone "Run off to confront her by yourself like an idiot. Why did I even bother?"

"AH!" Steven and Peridot freaked out.

"Amethyst!" Steven whispered as loud as possible while looking for her.

Amethyst was on top of a ledge and was quietly making her way towards Jasper.

"That's exactly what I wanted her to do. How ironic." I mumbled to myself before climbing on top of a rock face so that I could get a good view of the entire area. I summoned my bow and waited.

"I'll never let this planet twist me like it twisted you." Jasper said as Amethyst slowly inched towards her. The monster growled at Jasper again. "Your weakness embarrasses Homeworld." She bent down and put one of her index fingers on the monster, pushing it back a little "You suffer because it's what you deserve! We all only get what we deserve. Right, Amethyst?!" She turned her head to look towards Amethyst, who lost her focus and fell off of the ledge.

At this point, I was relatively safe from my perch. I took aim and waited for a clear shot. Jasper stood up.

"What do you want runt?" Jasper said to Amethyst "You here for a rematch?"

"I'm here to win!" Amethyst exclaimed.

Jasper finally turned towards Amethyst "You were fated to lose - the moment you came out wrong!"

Although Amethyst faltered a bit, she stood her ground. It wasn't like any of it mattered though, because she already did her job. I now had a clear shot on Jasper's gem, a one-shot elimination. I took aim and fired an arrow. It was right on target, piercing through the air as it closed in on its target. But before it could get there, _WHAT!? HOW!?_

Jasper caught the arrow.

"Oh, looks like you brought reinforcements." Jasper turned towards me as she effortlessly snapped the arrow in two. I took a step back.

Steven ran up beside Amethyst "What you said about Amethyst is not true!"

"Rose" Jasper looked towards the two of them "Of course, your lackeys never stray far. Why would they? They have no place in this, or any world!"

"What do you mean?" Steven asked.

"Every Gem is made for a purpose…to serve the order of the Diamonds." Jasper started "Those who cannot fit inside this order must be purged! To come out misshapen, to reshape yourself outside your purpose, and to defend this ruined, worthless planet is a disgrace!" She looked back at me, causing me to sweat a little. "You even twisted the mind of one the Diamonds."

"This planet isn't all bad!" Peridot somehow managed to yell and still sound timid at the same time. I looked to the rock face that she was still standing next to, only to catch a glimpse of her as she hid behind it.

"What are you doing here?" Jasper looked towards the rock that Peridot hid behind with disgust.

"I…." Peridot finally showed a backbone for once, stepping out of cover and yelling "I'm a Crystal Gem now!"

Jasper said nothing as she turned towards them and summoned her…thing. Honestly, I'll never know what that thing on her head is. Maybe it's a helmet, or a battering-ram… Whatever.

"I'm not afraid of you! I've got metal powers! I'll show you! GRRR!" Peridot tried to use her powers on a metal rod that was on top of the ledge that Amethyst had shimmied along. Of course, she failed miserably, and it was hilarious.

"Aw jeez" Amethyst muttered.

"Anyone else got somethin' to say?" Jasper looked more annoyed than anything.

"No! It's just us." Steven said as he prepared for battle.

"UGH! You GUYS!" Amethyst yelled as she picked up Steven "Stay out of this!" Before throwing him like an idiot. _Guess my speech wasn't good enough._

"Amethyst!" Steven said as he finally landed on his feet for once.

"It's just you and me, Jasper – one on one!" Amethyst was serious about this suicide mission. I had to do something.

"Amethyst! You can't beat her on your own! We need to work together!" I tried to get through to her, but, you know.

"I have to do this! Just like you…have to beat the diamonds." I saw a lone tear streak down her right cheek as she faced Jasper and prepared to attack.

Such a simple statement shouldn't have had any sort of effect of me. That I knew. But there I was, moved to the verge of tears by a simple sentence. I closed my eyes and chuckled.

 _Hehe, how ironic, such a brash and unruly gem stirring me up. I guess that I had lost myself for a little bit. But she's right. I can't forget about MY destiny._

 _I must… no – I WILL defeat the diamonds!_

 **?**

When I opened my eyes, I was in a completely different place. A vast as empty space, with darkness as far as the eye could feasibly see.

"Hello?! HELLO!?" My voice echoed endlessly. I began to walk around aimlessly, looking for something or someone. "Anyone?"

"Diamond's progress is impressive. I think that she'll be ready REAL soon." I could hear Sapphire talking to herself. _Maybe she can help me._

"Sapphire! Sapphire!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"Huh? Oh! It seems like your progressing way ahead of schedule. This wasn't supposed to happen for another hundred years! Heh Heh." Sapphire said as five large doors appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of me. One was blue, one was green, one was red, one was yellow, and the final one was white. "You are finally ready to take the next step towards obtaining your fullest potential."

"Is 'fullest' even a word?" I chuckled a little as I said that, knowing what was coming.

"Well," Sapphire started "Although fullest doesn't seem to be a grammatically correct word to some, it is mainly used in conversation as a superlative adjective. Basically, working as the 'tallest' to full. Which, doesn't necessarily make since, as full is already as much as a container can carry. Hm…"

By the time she was finished with her 100-word report, I was full on laughing now "Yeah, let's drop that topic for some more pressing matters. Like what I'm doing here."

"Okay. According to the prophesy, this is where you gain a crucial ability that will permanently impact your development as both a warrior and as a leader. Four doors sit before you, each featuring unique abilities that you can choose from. The prophesy states that you will only be able to choose one, so choose wisely. Blue represents stability and wisdom and will grant you the ability to control water and earth like a Lapis Lazuli, and you will also be able to create water out of nothing. Red represents fire and passion and will give you the ability to create and manipulate fire at will. Green represents safety and harmony and will give you unrivaled regenerative and healing capabilities. And finally, yellow represents clarity and optimism, and choosing it will allow you to use telekinesis at a level never seen before"

"What about white?" I asked, curious as to why she left out the fifth and final color.

"White?"

"Yes, white. There's a white door here, what does it do?" I was slightly tempted to go through it, just for the heck of it. But I exercised restraint and waited.

"Well, nothing in the prophesy mentions a white door. I think that you should just not go through it." Under normal circumstances, I would listen to everything that Sapphire tells me. This time, however,

"I'm going through it." I said as I walked towards the tall, slender, white door with a diamond in the center of it.

"WHAT!? WHY!?" Sapphire's confused voice rang through the room "What if – "

"That's exactly why I'm choosing this door. What if I never get this opportunity again?" I grinned "I would never pass something like this up." I put my hand up against the door, causing it to vanish entirely, revealing a blinding bright white light. As I walked into it, I could faintly hear someone say

"That's why I admire you so, my diamond."

 **?**

This new corridor was almost exactly like the last, the main difference between the two being the ridiculously bright white light that was inescapable.

"You didn't save them. It's all your fault." A mysterious voice whispered.

"What?"

"WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING!? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE THEM!?" I felt a sharp pang of pain in my chest, but at the same time, my eyes started to adjust to the blinding white light.

Through it, I could faintly make out a few colors. Mainly a brownish red, with a little purple and orange mixed in. _Wait, isn't that… AMETHYST!_

And with that I was thrusted back into reality, and at the perfect time too. Amethyst, as expected, was losing the fight. She was lying on the ground as Jasper brushed some ashes off her.

"Is it sinking in yet?" Jasper said in a condescending tone. She started walking towards Amethyst with bad intentions. Of course, well, you know.

"Diamond?"

"Diamond!"

"Diamond. Yay?"

I got in between the two and smirked before saying "That's why you listen to me… sometimes."

"Oh, look who finally decided to make a move." Jasper grinned "Just more trash to be thrown out!" She rolled into a ball and charged right at me. Dodging was not an option, as my friends were standing right behind me. I had to try and block the attack. I summoned my gauntlets and assumed a blocking position.

 **CLANG!  
** Dust flew as we were locked into another face off. Unlike last time, where she physically overpowered me and pushed me back, I was able to withstand it. One thing that I noticed was that Jasper seemed much less threatening than before. I was still much shorter than her, but she wasn't the super-scary unstoppable force anymore. I felt like I had a chance. After a few seconds of nothing happening she gave up on the attack and jumped back a fair bit.

"You're definitely much stronger than you were when we last fought. As expected from one of the Diamonds." Jasper said.

"Oh, save the pleasantries for another time! You're just delaying your inevitable defeat!" I full on blitzed her, charging towards her in a zig zag pattern. However, I misjudged how much faster I became, and flew right past her. I skidded to a stop right in front of the cage that held the monster from the great north.

 **GRRR!**

"Oops." I muttered to myself before turning around. "Okay, let's try that again." I charged at her again in the same way. She threw a right hook at me when I was in striking distance, but I anticipated this, ducked the punch, and hit her with a left uppercut to the gut.

She slid back a little and grimaced from the pain. Then she grinned "It's going to take a lot more than that to stop me!"

"Oh, you want more? I'll give you all you can handle!" I dashed at her again, this time running in a circle around her at full speed, creating a 'Ring of Death'. The dusty terrain really helped out this attack as it completely obscured her vision, making it impossible to counter attack. All it took was a few seconds for an opening to present itself. I slid to a stop right in front of her and bent down. Jasper, who was shocked at this point, looked down at me with wide eyes.

"You never stood a chance." I grinned before sending her at least 40 feet into the air with a right uppercut. I looked up into the sky and couldn't see anything through the brightness of the sun. Well, not until it hit me. No, not mentally or metaphorically. Jasper. Flying straight into me at full bore, sending that helmet of hers right into my gem.

 **CRACK**

In one split second, I went from having the upper hand, to being defeated and possibly dead. My senses were dulled, which was most likely the result of my gem being cracked. I could faintly feel my head being grabbed, and I opened my eyes to the sight of a beat-up Jasper who had a cheeky grin on her face. Her mouth moved, but I couldn't hear anything, except for a faint ringing sound. Everything slowly started fading to black.

"…. No." I whispered quietly to myself.

"What? I want to hear your last words my Diamond. What shall they be?" Jasper's smile got even larger…

And I wanted to smack it off her face "I said no ya big dumb brute!" My vision corrected itself along with the rest of my senses, and I took advantage of this by…spitting in her face...

 **PTOOO!**

"What did you just do to me!?" Jasper dropped me and proceeded to wipe my fluids off her. This created an opening that I needed to take advantage of if I wanted to defeat her.

And I did, summoning my gauntlets once more before charging at her, rocking her with a right uppercut to the gut. Her face twisted into a look of pure pain as she hunched over around my fist. My animosity towards her hit a fever pitch. I was losing control of myself. "Take this you CLOD!" I began swinging for the fences, beating her down a relentless onslaught of punches. Left hook, right uppercut, straight left, right hook. My punches were so fast that I could barely see them myself. Even though Jasper is one of the toughest gems that I have ever seen, she could only take this type of beating for a few seconds. _This one's for Amethyst!_ She lost her footing before being thrown into a rock face by the force of a straight right hand.

 **BOOM!**

Jasper hit that thing like a missile, which made the rock face COLLAPSE, releasing all of the corrupted gems trapped inside. _:/ Oops…_ Jasper, who was now lying face down on the ground, came to right as her corrupted gems made a run for it.

"No! My army!" She exclaimed.

"Your army should be the LAST thing on your mind." I said as I started walking towards her.

"What?" Jasper started laughing "You're as good as shattered anyways!" The tough guy act was easily seen through, as she was badly injured herself. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my chest. I groaned, grabbed my gem, and my walk degraded into a slow limp. The thought of stopping crossed my mind as the pain that pulsated throughout my body was becoming unbearable. But it was just that, a thought.

 _I… NEED Jasper for my plan to work! Besides, Steven can just heal me… wait, WHAT HE CAN DO THAT?!_

After a few moments of excruciating pain, I finally made it to her "Have you ever heard of the phrase, 'an eye for an eye'?" I smirked as I looked down at her. She clearly didn't like the way that I looked at her.

"W – What does it mean?' She asked nervously.

"Here, let me SHOW YOU!" I raised my right hand and grinned like a maniac when Jasper tried to move her arms but couldn't.

"Diamond, NO!" A voice that sounded like a weird blend between Steven and Amethyst yelled. But her efforts were in vain. In my eyes, this had to be done. Jasper had to be finished, here and now.

"HAAA!" I grabbed her gem and ripped it out of her physical form, causing a giant cloud of smoke to appear out of nowhere. To make it seem as if I shattered her, I immediately punched the ground as hard as I could with my other hand. This created a mini earthquake, that wasn't strong enough to destroy anything, but was still convincing enough to pass as a real attack. _Stage 1, complete._

I basked in the moment, savoring my hard-fought victory.

Well, until Steven ran up to me, grabbed my shoulders and shook me wildly "Why did you do that!? You didn't have to shatter her!" I discreetly slipped Jasper's gem into one of my pockets.

"She took me out, I had to return the favor." I said weakly as my legs gave out, forcing Steven to hold me upright.

"What do you mean?" He asked. I simply pulled down the collar of my t-shirt and showed him my now cracked gem. "Oh, I-I can fix that!" He laid me down on the ground like a delicate vase. _Huh? How did I know? I've never seen him heal anyone before, so how-_

"Uh, what's wrong with Diamond?" Amethyst asked. She and Peridot were now right beside me along with Steven. Their eyes scanning my body, looking for any serious injuries.

"Diamond, take off your shirt." This whole situation was bizarre, because I KNEW what he was about to do. He was going to lick his hand (gross), put his saliva on my gem (double gross) and it was going to miraculously heal me. Amethyst and Peridot gasped as I took off my nifty t-shirt and threw it to the side, revealing my gem with a huge crack running down the middle of it. "Now all I've gotta do is this," he licked his right hand then put it on my gem, which caused the large crack to close after a few seconds. "Ta Da!" _Groovy…_

"Thanks Steven!" I said cheerfully as I got up and grabbed my shirt.

"No problem, it's pretty n – Hey! You're just trying to distract me!" He was a little mad, but he was too cute to be intimidating "Why did you shatter Jasper!?"

I casually slipped my shirt back on "Jasper was a threat and I eliminated her. Any other questions?"

"But you didn't have to do it! We could've bubbled her, a – and-"

I cut Steven off "And what, we imprison her for eternity? That sounds terrible." After that did nothing to calm him down, I put my hands on his shoulders and stared him straight in the eyes "If Jasper had a choice she'd choose this over being bubbled. I know this may be difficult to stomach, but just remember that Jasper went out the way she would want to. Like a warrior. Understand?" He nodded "Ok, let's go tell the others about what happened here"

We used the warp pad to get back to the barn, all while Peridot was talking about this 'Smoky Quartz' character. Since the warp pad wasn't right next to the barn, we had to walk a little before we got there.

"When Steven tried to help Amethyst up, they fused to make her! Then, she combined their weapons to make a yo-yo of all things!" Peridot said, her face brimming with excitement.

"That sounds awesome! But can she stand up to one of the diamonds?" I said in a sarcastic manner.

"Oh, you wouldn't stand a chance." Peridot snickered "I wonder how long you'd last." before I could glare at her, something else grabbed my attention.

Those five rubies were back. However, most of the heavy lifting was already done, as they were held captive in airborne water bubbles that were made by Lapis. She, along with Garnet and Pearl, were watching the rubies as they did what rubies usually do, nothing of any value. The three noticed our presence and looked towards us.

After the first millisecond of shock, I was more exasperated than anything _These idiots again?_

"The Rubies are back?!" Steven said as he ran up to Garnet.

"They showed up on their little ship acting very angry. So I put them in timeout." Lapis said.

"I thought we were done with these guys!" Steven walked over to the rubies "Why did you come back here?" _Because Jasper wasn't on Neptune. Duh._

"Let's release one and just ask what they're up to." Garnet said.

"Ooh, ooh! Can I pick?" Steven was more enthusiastic about this than everyone else combined, so of course Garnet let him do it.

"Go for it." She said without any emotion.

Steven walked even closer to the Rubies and examined them "Hmm... Oh! Let's talk to Leggy!"

"What?" I gave him a confused look "Did you say… 'Leggy'?"

He looked back at me "Yeah, I named them based on the placement of their gems." He pointed at 'Leggy' "There's Leggy" Then he pointed at all the other ones individually "Army, Navy, Eyeball, and, uh... Doc. Leggy seems like the easiest to talk to."

"Leggy, come on down!" Lapis used her one time use special ability 'Enthusiasm' before motioning with her hand. This caused the water bubble containing 'Leggy' to pop and the Ruby inside to fall to the ground.

"Hey! Hi, I'm Steven. What brings you back to Earth?"

"Uh…" The ruby sat up. "I… don't… know?" I didn't even know why we were doing this. _Did they forget about it that quickly?_

"Oh, uh, I understand. I used to forget why we go on missions all the time." Steven said

"I'll just go stand over here then." The Ruby got up and walked to the side.

"Are we done wasting our time?!" I yelled as I crossed my arms.

"What do you mean Diamond? Do you know something that we don't?" Pearl asked as everyone turned towards me.

I groaned before I angrily walked in front of everyone and turned so that I was facing them. "What were the Rubies looking for the last time?"

"Uh…" Steven thought about it for a second "Jasper."

"Correct." I started pacing back and forth while fiddling with my hands. "And we told them that Jasper was in Neptune, when she wasn't there. Correct?"

"Right." Pearl said.

"And now they are BACK. Don't you think that it may be because they didn't find her!?"

"Oh yeah…" Steven finally recognized the obvious. And since he did, everyone else did. Garnet made me uncomfortable though, as I could literally feel her eyes pierce through me. Don't ask how I knew, I just felt it. _She probably already knows where Jasper really is, I could be in some serious trouble if I don't play my cards right._

I stopped and looked towards Garnet trying to look as calm as possible "Right now, we need to formulate our strategy. Because if we let out Doc, who is the leader, they'll reorganize and get really mad."

"Uh… You do know I can hear you. Right?" Leggy said. I shot her the meanest death glare imaginable, which frightened her back into silence.

"But… We don't exactly have a strategy." Steven said as he, along with the others, made various faces as they tried to think up a solution.

But I was a step ahead "That's why I'm here. Just follow my lead. Lapis, let them all out."

"Are you sure about this?" Lapis looked at me with uncertainty.

"Just do it." I turned around towards the Rubies, and with one loud POP they came crashing to the ground.

The first to get up and react was 'Army', who angrily charged at me "I'm gonna tear you apart!" I stepped to the side and tripped her, causing her to clumsily fall face first to the ground.

"Now now, that isn't the way to treat one of your superiors, is it?" I said as I brushed of my legs. Even though they weren't dirty, my main objective was to look as condescending as possible.

"What? Who are you!" Doc said as she and the other Rubies, who were now up and angry, stared me down.

I shrugged "I guess that I have no choice" with a snap of my fingers, my casual getup changed into an outfit that might pass off as one of the Diamonds while still being my own style: A grey, short sleeved bodysuit worn under a white vest, both of which had a cutout for my gemstone, and white cutoff shorts. I still wore the same type of tennis shoes, but I changed their colors to grey and white to match the rest of my outfit. "Are you happy now?"

The Rubies' faces lit up with astonishment and excitement…

"Is that – "

"One of the Diamonds!?"

"I think that I'm gonna faint…" _Oh brother…_

Well, most of them. Army was obviously still angry at me, even though she tried to hide it. Doc, on the other hand, wasn't convinced "I've never heard of a…" her gaze shifted down to my gem as she squinted hard, searching for… something "Colorless Diamond. Why is that?" This could've went bad quick.

Luckily, I had already thought things through "You shouldn't've ever met me. I'm a covert ops member sent to clean up the mess that YOU got yourselves into."

"Oh," That seemed to do the trick, as Doc had a look of defeat on her face "S-sorry, my Diamond."

I sighed "Take us to the nearest Diamond base so that you can send a report to Yellow. Please tell me that you can do that without screwing it up."

The Rubies started whispering amongst themselves. It was as if in that short timespan they forgot that there was a base right above us. While this was happening, I looked back at my friends, who had looks that ranged from complete and utter shock to 'what am I doing with my life?' and 'why am I even here?' I shot them a wink, which was a half-baked attempt at reassurance that got the reaction I thought it would.

"My Diamond, the nearest base is there." Doc pointed towards the moon

"Okay, let's go. The faster you file that report, the faster you can get out of my hair." I said, "Oh yeah, and these WAR PRISONERS are coming with us." I pointed towards my friends "Who knows what they'll do without being held in check." Although it wasn't the best move for THEIR safety, I was not going out there alone.

"Very well, to the ship." Doc said before she and all the other rubies started walking towards the Roaming Eye. Before I could follow, a hand grasped my shoulder. I whipped around to see a concerned Pearl.

"What are you doing!?" She somehow found a way to whisper loudly "This isn't going to work."

"Relax, I've got this. Just. Follow. My. Lead." I winked at her before I started towards the Roaming Eye.

"HUP HUP HUP HUP HUP HUP HUP HUP!" As the Rubies piled inside the ship, with me right behind them, I got to see the inside of a Roaming Eye for the first time in a while. _The last time I was in one of these…_ Just the thought of that sent shivers down my spine. However, I quickly shook it off. I had work to do.

The core four, Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl, and Steven were my 'prisoners' that tagged along with us. Lapis and Peridot didn't want anything to do with my plan, which was understandable

"Woah, it's huge in here! I thought it'd be super cramped." Steven said as he and the other 3 Crystal Gems entered right after me. All the Rubies took their respective seats, well, all except Eyeball, who felt the need to remind the 'prisoners' that

"Hey! This ain't no pleasure cruise!"

 _Ow, the edge…_ "Yeah!" I said while looking around the ship for anything to sit on before giving up. I pointed somewhere completely random and said "Just… sit over there or something."

"WHOOP!"

"YEAH!"

"PUT THOSE PRISONERS IN THEIR PLACE!" The Rubies were reminding me why I hated them so much. _Oh BROTHER!_

"Aw, curses! I can't believe we've been caught, and by one of the Diamonds of all things! So cross over it." Garnet was into this a little too into this, it was beginning to scare me a little.

"Uh huh, Diamond sure is strong. We didn't stand a chance!" Steven looked at me and winked. _=_=…_

Pearl leaned back and put one of her hands on her forehead in a dramatic fashion "Of all the indignities! Do what you want! I'll never talk!"

"Yeah! You'll like, never get a thing out of us!" _I think that's the first time Amethyst and Pearl-_ "If only Pearl wasn't so overly-dramatic, you might've taken us seriously." _Oh_

 _'_ _=.=…._ "Whatever, just shut your mouths and sit down." I said before walking to the front of the ship and taking the captain's seat. Looking at the controls, I felt a surge of energy wash over my body out of nowhere. I couldn't help but grin. _Oh, the memories… Huh?_

"My Diamond, are you okay?" I snapped out of my little trance and looked to my right, where Doc was standing, impatiently waiting for us to take off.

"Yeah, let's just get this over with."

 **TO DA MOON BASE**

To my surprise, I was a very good pilot, and we made it to our destination with no difficulties whatsoever. With the push of a button, I opened the Diamond base's blast doors, flew the Roaming Eye in, and landed with ease. We were all off the ship and looking around within moments; with Doc and I leading the way, the rest of the Rubies behind us, and the 'prisoners' behind them. Doc was using her gem to produce light, and since I didn't know how to do that, I was forced to stick near her until we turned on the lights.

"Oh Diamond, won't you ever let us go?" At this point I simply tuned out everything that came out of Pearl's mouth.

Eyeball used her gemlight (that's what I'm calling it now) and shone it on the mural of Pink Diamond "Look at this place…frozen in time. An Era-1 base. Her Era-1 base. It was a tragedy, what happened to her." I simply rolled my eyes.

"Who is that anyway?" Leggy asked innocently.

"Were you made yesterday?!" Eyeball scolded as she looked right at Leggy and Navy, blinding them with her gemlight "That is Pink Diamond." She pointed at the mural.

We ended up taking the 'hidden' staircase upwards in the same formation while Eyeball went on about Pink Diamond

"Earth was Pink Diamond's colony. Everything was going smoothly at first. Kindergartens were incubating their first soldiers. Big, warm pieces of Quartz were being created from its rich minerals with great success. Then…bam! One of Pink Diamond's very own Quartz soldiers started a rebellion and took it too far." She looked towards me and asked "Where were you when it happened?"

 _Not created yet._ "I was on another planet, doing a mission that you needn't ask about."

Then she turned towards me fully, blinding me with her gemlight "I was there. I saw it with my own eye. I watched the leader of the Crystal Gems - Rose Quartz - shatter Pink Diamond!"

"Ack!" I shielded my eyes "Watch where you point that thing!"

"No." Steven said. I assumed that he had enough of this, but he was going to blow our cover. I put an index finger over my lips to try and get him to stop, but my efforts were in vain. "Rose Quartz would never do that!"

"Steevenn," I muttered under my breath "Now's not the time."

He pretty much ignored me "And, sure, she had to fight but - but she would never shatter someone!" He was on the verge of both crying and blowing our cover. Luckily, something else came to our rescue.

"Hey!" It was Doc, who went on ahead without us "We got a problem."

 **Inside the control room…**

"The panel is broken. The communicator is gone! There's no way to contact Yellow Diamond from this hub." Doc said as the Rubies and I surrounded the control panel, or what was left of it anyways…

 _Hmmm… AHA!_ "Maybe you should go back to homeworld and file a report in person. Tell Yellow that Diamond is on it and that I will report back to her when I'm finished."

"Of course, my Diamond!" Doc said "Alright, that settles it. Rubies, back to the ship!" _The more I'm around these clods, the more I wanna shatter them._

I unenthusiastically waved them goodbye as they closed the Roaming Eye's door. I then spun around towards my friends and shrugged "See? I told you it would work."

"Great job Diamond, you handled yourself well out there." Garnet said as she gave me her signature seal of approval, a thumb up.

"All right Diamond!" Steven ran up to me and gave me a high five.

"You did it! I know you could!" Pearl said enthusiastically, before I could say it,

"No, you didn't." Amethyst beat me to it.

"Hey, you need a ride back to Earth?" I turned around to see the Roaming Eye's door opened again, with Doc looking out of it.

"Yeah, sure." I forced out.

And with that, I single handedly saved us from an unnecessary fight. And with that out of the way, I can turn my attention to more… pressing matters.


End file.
